One of the most effective techniques I have found to optimize transactions in high volume OLTP databases is to persist your data in sets. Once you have a set of data available in SQL Server, you need to process that set using efficient SQL Syntax. Regardless of how you pass a set of data to SQL Server, there are some […]

Today we are continuing with tips for high volume transaction processing in an OLTP database. Yesterday we talked about preferring INSERT transactions over UPDATE or DELETE transactions. Today I want to talk about preferring SETS over multiple calls with single records. Sets are not always practical, or may not meet the business requirements. When sets are a valid options, then […]

I had a few emails, and a comment on the site that indicate that people are still not entirely on board with cloud-based services. Security, security, security. Security is the issue that most people bring up as the reason for being cautious. It could be access to their information, it could be becoming a target for hacking, or it could […]

There are some specific things you can do to optimize your OLTP database performance allowing it to scale with the ability to handle a large load of concurrent transactions. Today I’m going to start with some basic tips that work with just about any database engine. One of the most effective optimization techniques I know of is to prefer INSERT […]

I know I talk a fair bit about all of the different types of solutions and approaches and environments you can be working with when getting your own data platform work going. But I thought I’d ask the simple question – Do you cloud? (Sorry for the grammatical murder there) – I’m curious if you feel things have moved on […]

If you’ve followed SSWUG.org for any time at all, you probably know I tend to incorporate security issues like encryption, protection, access controls, all of that – as often as I can. Heck, I’ve been know to make things up just to make sure it’s included in a discussion. To me, it’s that critical. But I was talking with a […]

If you’re not required by law to comply with external standards, does that mean you aren’t responsible for the risks of non-compliance. Sure, you may not have to prove compliance through some sort of audit, as you would if you were under PCI regulations, or some other standard. But, does that mean you don’t have to have the same diligence […]

I’ve been noticing some interesting trends on inquiries at SSWUG.ORG – and perhaps even more intriguing, the sessions being proposed for the upcoming May Virtual Conference. The difference, and the trends, seem to be edging toward debugging from the application, back. Rather than what I would often call SQL Server forward. It seems the assumption, to start the troubleshooting process, […]

When considering data types and the desire to constrain the values to the minimum required, there is a tangent question you might consider. The question, “Is this column part of the primary key, or a foreign key?” Before we get into a heated battle regarding primary keys, and always having that key be a sequential integer, let me suggest that […]

Today I want to talk about some very specific philosophical questions when it comes to defining tables. The choices we make have implications in both the short and long term. Let me start with a simple premise. I have been taught that when you create a table, for each column in the table, it should be constrained to allow only […]