Guiding Phrases Today I was reading and came across these different quotes again, all in a single place. I have heard all of them before from time to time. Some stick more powerfully than others. All of them I have war stories for situations when I didn’t keep them in mind. Make things complicated as required; keep them as simple […]

A special Video – Encryption Keys By Patrick Townsend Clear up some of the confusion about encryption with this online video by Patrick Townsend. He answers questions like, how do they work, and what do you need to know? Watch the Show Q & A Responses Today we have some responses to the questions from our editorial yesterday. Should we […]

Are Legacy Questions Still Relevant? A few years ago I remember Steve asking some questions I’m wondering if you find relevant still today. One question I recall simply because of the amount of response received. The question was, “What is your Server Naming Convention, and is it important what you choose?” As many companies are moving toward hosting their services […]

Essential Release Skill – Know Your Requirements Today I share a response from Sue as a representative of those recommending an emphasis on requirements as it pertains to having a successful software release. Sue Writes: Coming from a QA perspective, I cannot express strenuously enough how critical requirements gathering and a clear/concise software requirement specification is to the whole process. […]

Software Release Skill No matter if software being released is off-the-shelf or custom designed, there are common practices resulting in successful software releases common to both. Following is a short list of practices find useful: Develop Clear requirements The assumption is, If you know what it is, and how it is supposed to work you can verify the correctness of […]

The Skill of Releasing Software I opened this topic yesterday and received valuable responses from many readers. Scott wrote a lot, so that’s all I have room for today. Here is what he says: As someone who has recently co-lead a mission-critical software project through two major releases successfully, including a complete hardware replacement/virtualization plus Windows Server and SQL Server […]

SSWUGtv – Key Management With Stephen Wynkoop In today’s edition Stephen talks with Townsend about the basics of security. This edition is affectionately titled, "Security: Key Management 101, Lesson one — Always protect the key!" Watch the Show The Skill of the Release Recently I have been talking with colleagues about some of the less vaunted skills a software professional […]

SSWUGtv – Safe Data In todays edition of SSWUGtv Stephen discusses the importance of changed rules and roles of security to keep your data safe. Check it out The Microsoft SQL Server Strategy A couple brave folks have responded with their perception regarding the Microsoft Strategy for the SQL Server platform. Most agree that Microsoft appears to be moving away […]

SSWUGtv – Are you Looking at a Career Shift? With Stephen Wynkoop When you have to change your path (whether within your company or completely changing careers)…what are the steps to a smooth transition? Laura Rose is on today’s show with some great tips! Watch the Show Where is SQL Server Going SQL Server has had an unique position in […]

Who Controls Database Resources? With the advent of SQL Server 2008 and later the answer is increasingly, “You.” That is because Microsoft introduced the Resource Governor capability in SQL Server 2008. This capability allows you to define resource groups and allocate work on your server to them. This grouping allows you to manage precious resources on your SQL Server machine […]