Embedded SQL Server In the current CTP downloads for SQL Server 2014 one of the things you can download is a very lightweight version of SQL Server targeted at special implementations where a relational database is desired, but management of the database outside of your application is not optimal. This version is called LocalDB or SqlLocalDB. SQL Server 2014 CTP […]

Contemporary Universal Personal Identifiers Last week we talked about using potential future techniques for identifying an individual in a universally unique fashion basing a numerical hash key off of some sort of DNA identifier. While this is not a currently available technology there are a lot of biometric systems being used today. Eye scans and skin prints of different kinds […]

How to Universally Identify a Person In Your Database – DNA Hash Tag Database developers have argued about the best way to uniquely identify an individual for as long as there have been relational databases. Many solutions have been used over the years with differing degrees of success. In the USA the Social Security Number (SSN) has been popular. A […]

Reader Feedback – Deploying Multiple Instances of SQL Server on a Single Machine Responses from two of our readers today regarding multiple instances of SQL Server on the same machine remind us to review the licensing agreements as part of your consideration for setting up your deployment strategy. Different versions of SQL Server have different ways they have been licensed […]

Running Multiple Instances of SQL Server on One Machine If you can afford the licenses, it often makes sense to run more than one instance of SQL Server on the same machine; especially if those instances are not highly utilized and you have a more powerful machine. In order to run multiple instances you will either have to have virtual […]

Collaboration Options When working in a team environment there are a lot of options available to us when we need to interact with another individual. This is an area where I really need to improve. If we use the tools efficiently we can be more productive ourselves, and allow others to be more productive as well. There are lots of […]

Schema Options When it comes to relational databases you have options to consider differing from those of other No-SQL engines. It is important to not discount the value of the relationship in a relational database. Record State is one of the dimensions where you have many options available. Often a database entity may only have one state at a time. […]

Running a Clean Database Server It doesn’t matter what combination of database engine and operating system you are deploying or if they are running on physical or virtual machines, a clean system is more likely to provide better performance. In a perfect world, the server is dedicated to database services. If you can’t dedicate a physical machine to a single […]

What Belongs in an Application Configuration File? Primarily working from a software development perspective I have found the saving configuration data in a file to be a great technique for modifying application behavior without having to re-compile the application. For example, configuration settings such as the Level of Logging can allow you to increase or reduce the detail of logging […]

Environment Driven Configuration Managing configuration data for multiple environments can be a frequent issue. Many projects have multiple environments allowing different efforts to execute simultaneously. Often, configuration information such as data connections differs for each environment to provide segregation. You might have environments for Test, Development, Production, Training, Stress, Sales, etc. Today I was introduced to SlowCheetah by a colleague, […]