If you’ve been around SQL Server, and responsible for keeping it running, it isn’t long until you start to build your own DBA toolbox. Inside your toolbox you maintain scripts designed to predict, detect, and resolve problems for users or the server itself. The scripts come from all over. Some are given to you; some you get from resources you […]

Jim writes in about his personal experience with addresses around the world. His story is a great example, representing the unique nature of finding an address. Jim Writes: Ben … I have had to deal with this. It can be difficult for people who are centered in Western countries, or worse, in the US. I can provide a personal example. […]

Lately I have been working on Database Migrations. There are a lot of different ways to modify an existing database. Some I like much better than others. This time, due to internal requirements, I am working with an SQL Server database project, using the internal migration capability built therein. This process is similar to those used historically with database comparison […]

Today I thought I want to continue the topic of data structures for multiple regions. Let’s consider physical addresses, as that is one topic having the greatest variance when it comes to storage. The biggest problem, when it comes to addresses and multiple regions, is that the address elements vary considerably. Often, you want your system to use referential integrity […]

Here’s a topic that is not often talked about. What about applications requiring regional configuration for language and styling? Many of us don’t have to worry about working with more than one collation (character set), translations, or difference in data structures unique to a region of the world. B Currency is a big problem. Conversion rates are continually changing. So, […]

When you are implementing new software or a canned software package, what is one of the most important skills needed? To me, one of the most important skills in this scenario is gathering requirements. Indeed, the less your customer knows about what is needed, the more difficult your job becomes. I bring this out because I am not aware of […]

You may be wondering why I spent the last two days writing about methods to send multiple records to a stored procedure for processing. Here’s the scoop. I have been working on a system, using Entity Framework as the data access mechanism to SQL Server, and am optimizing some areas where performance is slower than desired. First, let me explain […]

Yesterday we looked at an old school way to merge large sets of external data into an SQL Server database through the use of a temp table, Bulk Copy, followed by a stored procedure, all from a single ADO database call. This method works great when you are working with more than one database, or do not have user defined […]

One of the coolest things added to Microsoft SQL Server in 2008 was the ability to pass sets to stored procedures as input parameters. This was enabled by creating user defined table types in the database. Then you could pass instances of that user defined table as an input parameter to a stored procedure. There is another method of passing […]

We have considered many different ways to optimize database storage using self hosted implementations. Memory, Direct Attached disks, RAID and SAN technologies, all hosted on proprietary hardware, allow you to configure storage to your specific needs. But what do you do when you are one consumer of a shared storage mechanism, hosted on either virtual machines in house, or in […]