Learn SQL Syntax from Templates Yesterday we shared how scripting objects from SQL Server Management Studio dialogs may be useful for learning SQL Syntax. You might use the table designer to complete a table definition, and then choose Script to see the SQL Syntax used to create the table, set defaults, etc. In response to Ed writes in with another […]

More on Personally Identifiable Information, PII Some great feedback from Ian yesterday – "Understanding what constitutes personally identifiable information becomes even more important when considering cloud computing. Not only do you have to consider what is being stored, but it is highly likely that you will be legally bound to consider in which jurisdiction it is stored. This includes not […]

Accidental DBA Quick Learning Technique You need to get work done. You need to get it done quickly. You don’t have time to dig through books online to figure out the syntax to get something done. But you want to learn. What do you do instead? One of the neatest features of a tool like Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio […]

What defines personally identifiable information? I’ve been involved with a surprising number of conversations of late talking about what PII consists of, and what you need to be aware of when protecting it. It’s easy to say that it’s social security numbers and credit card information. Those are the obvious choices. If you’re building applications and/or protecting the data though, […]

Accidental DBA and SQL Server Roles SQL Server has database level roles to make your job easier when managing database access and permissions. This allows you to create your own database roles, define what capabilities that role should allow or deny, and manage it as a whole. Having defined a role, you can then assign a database user to one […]

Code Reviews? What About Database Reviews? I’ve been involved in numerous code reviews – most of the time they’re a huge benefit to the process. You can make suggestions (or take suggestions as the case may be) and learn new ways to approach the work you’re doing. It’s hard to under-state what you can learn and just how helpful those […]

Primary Key Selection Recently I was talking with a colleague about defining the schema for a table…what columns to include and utilize for primary and foreign keys. The parent table contained a natural key that would be defined as requiring a unique value, and could therefore be used as a primary key. My colleague also has a standardized policy for […]

Do You Consciously Return to the Basics? When you’re designing new solutions, troubleshooting an issue or working with an existing bit of code, it’s easy to get caught up in the most elegant solution to the challenge you’re facing. At times, this can add surprising complexity as you work through all the things the problem you are solving may involve. […]

Disabled Indexes Can Hurt You – Badly Recently I read a white paper put together by Brent Ozar entitled “Six Scary SQL Surprises” at http://www.red-gate.com/products/dba/dba-bundle/entrypage/hard-earned-lessons-3. If you support any database it is worth your time to read. I have been working with databases for decades (more than I want to admit) and I still found ideas I hadn’t considered. I […]

Anyone Remember .ZAP? .SQL? Got such a kick out of this update article we found – that dBase is being updated and new features added to it. I don’t know about you, but I didn’t realize it was still available – pretty cool to see it up and running. Some very intriguing tools now included, from query building tools to […]