Many things have changed since SQL Server 2005 – while it seems like an obvious statement (it was 10 years or so ago after all), SQL Server 2005 was a major release for SQL Server in terms of stability, applications and more. It seems like nearly every time we survey the community, or look at session and article traffic, SQL […]

SQL Server 2016 is offering a new function, COMPRESS (and it’s counterpart, DECOMPRESS) that will gzip the contents of the information you pass to them. As you can imagine, these are great when applied to text values, and will have lesser impact when applied to already compressed things like some image formats and the like. But the real value are […]

When working on a project of any size, the only way a DBA can keep up with a team of software developers is through delegation and collaboration. This is contrary to how we traditionally like to work, as a DBA. We like to be in complete control. We like to be the final gatekeeper, making sure nothing is added to […]

I’ve become a big proponent of the cloud – but for surprising reasons. I think there are big, broad, wide-ranging lessons to be learned about how to manage data, how to relate data and even learning across data sources. Sure, (booming voice) Big Data — has all sorts of promise. You’ll get a boost to learnings and use of your […]

Today I want to talk about estimating SQL Work. For me, this is the most difficult thing to do. I have colleagues who have their own estimation techniques that work for them. Take a gut estimate of what it will take, multiply by some factor (Some multiply by 2, others by 3), because your gut is always too conservative. They […]

Azure Search is getting some killer abilities. I have to admit these are near and dear to my own heart with our work here at SSWUG and on client projects. Why? Because visual elements are so important to many systems. From images to video, full text search is support search of the content in those items now. This means that, […]

The next topic I want to address, essential for the Agile DBA, and important for other SDLC methodologies, is continuous integration and automated builds. These are two different processes that work hand in hand. As you know, an automated build system takes all of the code that has been checked into version control, compiles it, and produces a working result. […]

As I stated yesterday, using techniques designed for an Agile SDLC for your database, enables you to work within an Agile process. However, Automated Testing provides value for any SDLC. Automated Testing is most easily performed at the object level, and consists of different implementations. Much like automated testing of application code, you can create automated tests for scalar user […]

If you are working with a group that wants to use an Agile methodology, there are some things you are going to need to do in order to keep up as a DBA. Personally, I like Agile better than other software development lifecycles (SDLC). I think that’s the reason I come to this topic a lot, from a lot of […]

There is a lot to like in the new SQL Server 2016 that is nearing release, but a couple of really major, broad items are catching my eye, and they are things that can both help your installations and provide for better infrastructure going forward. The first is encryption. Now that you’ll have the Always on Encryption feature to enable. […]