Remember When: You had to create all your own database constraints through the use of triggers. Declarative referential integrity was not available. Check constraints were not available as part of a table design. Database Backups consisted of a series of INSERT INTO SomeTable VALUES … statements. This was pretty flexible, but did not backup the schema. It also took a […]

As companies continue to grow in scope and exposure, the importance of storing time in a database grows. Most companies have exposure to more than one time zone. Others, with international impact, find themselves with a larger impact. I, along with a large number of you, having worked with companies whose presence spans multiple continents, have found it necessary to […]

Entity Framework continues to grow in functionality. Using Code First, you can create a relational database from your Domain Objects and mappings, without knowing anything about a relational database engine. Due to this very powerful capability, many developers are under the impression that they have made the role of a database developer obsolete. I experience it at work; I see […]

Decades ago I used a popular database engine. It was a self-contained product, single tiered, providing both the application code for the user interface, and the database code for the storage behind it. The product had an annual version release. If you purchased to annual upgrade rights, you received a quarterly release that included bug fixes, and minor feature upgrades. […]

Earlier this week, I wrote an editorial on database scaling in Azure, using federations. Two readers left comments to point you to the fact that federations have been deprecated. I have not used federations for a couple of years, and they weren’t really that old to begin with. What’s more frustrating, I went to Google and did a search on […]

I have talked a lot about using a sharded database structure as a method to extend the performance and/or the capacity of a database. Sharding does not come without additional cost. Today I want to look at some of the things contributing to additional cost. If you use database sharding that requires additional instances of your database engine. Those additional […]

I have talked a lot about using a sharded database structure as a method to extend the performance and/or the capacity of a database. Sharding does not come without additional cost. Today I want to look at some of the things contributing to additional cost. If you use database sharding that requires additional instances of your database engine. Those additional […]

Is your database too large to fit within the limits of SQL Azure? That may be true. But with the use of Federations in SQL Azure, you can have massive flexibility through sharding, built directly in the SQL Azure platform itself. In an Azure federation, you shard your data into multiple databases, distributing records to one instance based on a […]

In computer software, authorization is an area that is continuing to morph. As I demonstrated yesterday, by defining horizontal and vertical partitioning in a database, most engines have some form of authorization for basic activities. This methodology was especially useful when there were fewer layers in an application, and the layers were closely bound. A 1990s application written using a […]

After reading my editorial about separating concerns of authorization and execution of application logic, Peter observes a similar need within a relational database. He writes: I have a small custom made CMS application. In this I use stored procedures to which I pass the current user and in which I join web page content tables with user access right tables […]