Index merging is an implementation strategy in an SQL Engine, enhancings query performance when no single index is available to resolve the requirements of a query. Index merging is really pretty simple. It works a lot like joining two different tables. Since an index is much like a table, it can be utilized in a similar fashion. Let’s use an […]

How are you testing your mobile applications? With the rapid increase this is a growing requirement. Depending on your implementation some of the testing can be performed using emulators, etc. Ultimately you have to test on target devices. Are you using any automated software? How about unit testing? Perhaps, with applications using multiple layers, or a hybrid approach, there are […]

Much of the energy from the Microsoft team for database services has been targeted toward the BI solutions since 2008. We’ve seen things such as PowerPivot, data warehouse appliances, Column Stores and much more. Recently we have been seeing some powerful performance enhancements in the SQL database engine as well with in memory tables, and column store indexes. Still, it […]

Recently exposed is the fact that drives from many manufacturers have been altered, allowing covert programs to execute simply by accessing the hard disk controller. This is the kind of thing alluded to in spy novels. Now it has been exposed as fact by reliable resources. Until there is a certification process that a disk controller has not been modified, […]

You don’t have a data warehouse. Maybe you have a reporting database with some de-normalized data marts. Or, at best you have a reporting database populated from transactions on your OLAP database. Now you have need to produce a report most easily calculated in a data warehouse using statistical queries rather than standard SQL. Where do you begin? What options […]

Are you keeping up with updates for your SQL Engine? I know this is not the easiest thing to do. It is difficult to find a time when the databases are not in use, or you invest a lot of money having failover systems allowing you to perform updates. Still, the risk of not applying service releases to your database […]

One database optimization solution is to duplicate a database, or a portion of it, when the database supports both online processing and reporting. The basics of the practice is to have two databases, essentially the same. All data entry is made into the OLTP instance of the database. All of the create, update and delete actions are replicated into a […]

It appears from the lack of feedback that open system software participation or utilization is not much of an issue for this audience. We did have one response, however, from a reader having worked at a large company that had an open, free for all, acceptance of open software selection and implementation. This worked well for individual projects. It fell […]

My editorial today consists of some questions regarding open systems software. Do you use open system software? If so, what libraries do you find useful for Java, Java Script or Dot Net? Do you contribute to open source software initiatives? If so, what are the factors that motivate you? Are you trying to enhance code to make it work better […]

When you are interviewing someone for an SQL Server job, and you want to know what their capabilities are, or could be, how do you evaluate their potential. There are a lot of blogs and editorials out there with SQL Server interview questions. They include things such as “What is the difference between a merge, loop, or hash join in […]