Dealing With Sparse Date Data Generating a row per day within a specified date range is often necessary when you need to create a report showing daily results for each day in the range, regardless of whether there was an activity on a particular day or not. Suppose you need to generate a row for each day within the following...
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Tips for using SQL Server 2012 triggers
Tips for using SQL Server 2012 triggers Microsoft SQL Server 2012 introduces many new useful stored procedures, functions and operators. Some actions you can perform without these new features, but usually using them provides more easy and effective way to accomplish the same goal. In this article, you can find some tips to use triggers in SQL Server 2012. Try...
Database Snapshots – A View of Database at a Specific Point in Time
Database Snapshots – A view of database at a specific point in time Author: Basit A. Farooq Introduction Beginning with SQL Server 2005, Microsoft introduced a new feature called database snaphots, which gives DBAs a way of presenting a consistent view of data at a certain time. So in other words we can say that it is a static, read-only...
Troubleshooting problems with SQL Server 2008 R2 Query Notifications
Troubleshooting problems with SQL Server 2008 R2 Query Notifications If you have problems with SQL Server 2008 R2 query notifications, review this troubleshooting checklist to find potential solutions. 1. Install the latest SQL Server 2008 R2 service pack. Because many SQL Server 2008 R2 query notifications bugs were fixed in SQL Server service packs, you should install the latest SQL...
Data Administration versus Database Administration
Data Administration versus Database Administration By Craig S. Mullins What is data administration (DA) and what does it have to do with database administration (DBA)? Well, in this day and age, the term “data administration” is not used nearly as commonly as it was just a few years ago. Instead, we hear terms like data governance or data architecture. But...
XML Support and SQL Server (Part 1)
XML Support and SQL Server (Part 1) By Basit A. Farooq XML fundamentals Beginning with SQL Server 2005, Microsoft improved and expanded its eXtended Markup Language (XML) support, the activities that previously required complementary products now have native support. Native XML commands and utilities have been expanded to include new features. In this article, I’ll give you an overview of...
Database Design: From Logical to Physical
Database Design: From Logical to Physical By Craig S. Mullins A proper database design cannot be thrown together quickly by novices. What is required is a practiced and formal approach to gathering data requirements and modeling data. This modeling effort requires a formal approach to the discovery and identification of entities and data elements. Data normalization is a big part...
Planning for ETL
Planning for ETL solution By: Basit A. Farooq Introduction Because any business intelligence (BI) mainly deals with the data, without doubt, the solution includes an extraction, transformation and loading (ETL) components linking the data sources and destinations. After gathering business requirements, the first step in the ETL component design is to plan the data transfer and staging solutions that support...
Reading Things That Aren’t There… and Missing Things That Are!
Reading Things That Aren’t There… and Missing Things That Are! By Craig Mullins You can shoot yourself in the foot using DB2 if you are not careful. There are options that you can specify that may cause you to read data that is not really in the database. And, alternately, you can set things up so that you miss reading...
Troubleshooting problems with SQL Server 2008 R2 System Stored Procedures
Troubleshooting problems with SQL Server 2008 R2 System Stored Procedures If you have problems with SQL Server 2008 R2 system stored procedures, review this troubleshooting checklist to find potential solutions. 1. Install the latest SQL Server 2008 R2 service pack. Because many SQL Server 2008 R2 system stored procedures bugs were fixed in SQL Server service packs, you should install...