How do you obtain meta-data when you use an NoSql data store? Is it even important? Perhaps the reason you used a NoSql data store in the first place, is that meta data is not important to you. So, to define the playing field, lets take a look at some of the kinds of meta data that are available in […]

Over the years I have observed and experienced many different ways to select technology and architect solutions. I thought I would share some of them today. Please note, these are not necessarily recommendations; just observations of real world decision making. Follow the vendor. This methodology is based on the vendor who provides the most fringe benefits to the decision maker […]

I have recently been reminded of one of the powerful enhancements in the HTML5 specifications; web events. While this is not a technology needed for every web site, it is more than simply a tool for writing an instant messaging application. What brought this technology to mind? A web client that monitors a queue. This is actually a fairly common […]

Date Formatting is very helpful. While it is not always the preferred thing to do in your database, there is native support built in. SQL Server allows you to convert or cast a date into a string value, and during the casting to provide a formatting method. The formatting is specified by providing an integer value. Following is a query […]

Reading Stephen’s editorial a about the viability of the SLA process, I began thinking about the RFP process as well. Both processes have something in common. The worst case scenario is that the contracts result in a pre-determined scape goat to blame when things go badly. The best case scenario provides guidelines for how both parties will behave and perform. […]

Here’s Accidental DBA Tip. Many times you are looking for where an object such as a table or stored procedure are used. Sometimes you can use dependency DMVs or sp_depends. However, those are not always reliable because the object you may be looking for could have been deleted, or not created in the correct order so the linkage is tracked. […]

I was listening to a radio show this morning where the topic was about things we do that trigger other actions you would not think could or would happen. When it comes to computer systems, this is a regular occurrence. Things are often tied together in ways you may not anticipate. In SQL Server, a fun example is the use […]

Total cost of ownership is frequently used to justify the extra cost of hosted services. Steve has been comparing different hosting services for SQL Server, Amazon and Microsoft Azure. His presentation should encourage you to really take into consideration all of the costs involved. Hosting services will tell you that they handle software updates, backups, installation, maintenance, etc. So, you […]

I have been working on a project, recently, containing a number of large logic controllers that must perform a lot of work very quickly. As a result, I do not have the luxury of instantiating them each time they are needed. Instead I have a singleton of each controller. The net result is that I cannot use any local variables […]

Cloud computing; what is it? The concept continually changes. I have been working in cloud development technologies for a number of years, creating systems that scale auto-magically across many servers such that an application has no real awareness of where data or code resides. Microsoft has made this cloud computing even easier in the open source Azure project Orleans. Since […]