(NelsonKostaSouto) INI files and the registry are generally things of the past for .NET applications. But what to use? XML seems appropriate, but one look at System.XML is enough to scare most developers off, especially just to store a few fields. Fortunately, there is a very easy way in .NET to sol
Other News
What DB2 9 features do you like?
(Willie Favero) At SHARE last week there were a couple of DB2 9 for z/OS topics and all had a lot of interest. In fact, when the audience was asked what release they were on, everyone was on Version 8, all were positioned to upgrade to DB2 9. So it got me wondering if there are any features of parti
Confession
(Sergey Dubinets) I am confessing that in Orcas we did a breaking change in the XslCompiledTransform.
Get the most out of Informix Dynamic Server optimizer through UPDATE STATISTICS
(Bharath Sriram, Harshavardhan Changappa and Priyambada Behera) Use the UPDATE STATISTICS statement in IBM Informix Dynamic Server (IDS) to get the moust out of the database optimizer. Get a brief overview of this SQL statement and see how it can be used for a variety of problems. Discover the impor
There Is No Time Like ‘%NOW%’ To Use Dynamic Sampling
(Greg Rahn) I recently came across a query in which the Optimizer was making a poor cardinality estimate, which in turn caused inefficient join type, which in turn caused the query to run excessively long. This post is a reenactment of my troubleshooting.
RAID System performance surprises
(Peter Zaitsev) Implementing MySQL database in 24/7 environments we typically hope for uniform component performance, or at least would like to be able to control it. Typically this is indeed the case, for example CPU will perform with same performance day and night (unless system management softwar
SQL Server DBA Dashboard
(Gregory A. Larsen) Last month in my article (Building Custom Reporting Services Reports for SQL Server Management Studio ), I discussed that with SQL Server 2005 SP2 Microsoft implemented a new feature called “Custom Reports”. Custom Reports are Reporting Services report definition files that can b
Unicode and SQL Server
(Buck Woody) Systems have often been designed to be used in a single country, in a single language, and for a single audience. But as the world matures, organizations are increasingly required to expand that audience to other locations. As this happens in the business, most DBAs and developers will
When GETDATE() is not a constant
(Andrew Kelly) A short while ago I was collecting wait stat information at a client and ran across a very peculiar situation that I would like to share. Let me start by saying that for years I have coded with the understanding that when you include a system function in the SELECT list of a TSQL stat
Upgrading databases and changing database compatibility levels
When upgrading databases from an older version of SQL Server using either the backup and restore method or detach and attach method the compatibility level does not automatically change and therefore your databases still act as though they are running using an earlier version of SQL Server. From an