Featured Article(s)
Records count for each table in a database
Procedure that will display all the tables present in a database with its corresponding record count.
Do You Know SQL Server, SharePoint, .NET Development, Business Intelligence?
If so, I’d love to work with you – we’re actively looking for even more to write about their experiences with these technologies, or technologies on other databases we feature. If you’re interested, it’s easy to get started – just head to http://bitonthewire.wpengine.com/editor and you’ll be taken right to the editor page where you can post your articles. Don’t know what to write about? Just take a look at the SSWUG.org home page – there are all sorts of ideas, topics and tidbits there to help get you started. Questions? Email me – swynk@sswug.org and let me know. I’ll make sure you get the information you need.
SaaS Feedback
I heard from a number of people that experiences looking into the SaaS environment and approach are interesting, but certainly warrant looking further into costs and how software is maintained.
It was one of the first times I’ve had a unanimous look at the issues facing these types of environments. Everyone that wrote in agreed that, in the short-run, costs could be lower as the monthly license fees can generally be less than purchasing licenses for in-house software solutions.
The challenges come in when you take into account the longer-term continuing payments. Many that wrote in indicated that really, over time, the costs get very close to one-another. When you factor in maintenance contracts, licenses and such, and compare with the ongoing costs of SaaS, the costs can get relatively close.
The answer? Choose the environment that most closely suits your business. Rather than considering only costs, look at the benefits of one environment over the other for your particular application. If you’re faced with a diverse or geographically separated environment, it can be a big boom to have a service "in the cloud" as it can help with access and availability between locations.
Due diligence and a full understanding will help determine the best approach. Nothing new to that statement, but it *is* important to keep in mind. Of those writing in, several reminded that vendors will generally be heavily biased toward their solutions (of course). So make sure you’re talking to all possible solution vendors, getting the full, longer term costs picture and have information about those support contracts, upgrade charges and so-on.
Featured White Paper(s)
Building High-Performance Database Systems with EMC Storage Technology and Microsoft SQL Server 2005
In this white paper, you’ll read about Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition, which incorporates powerful data managem… (read more)