5 database subjects I'm researching

There is no excuse for not expanding the DBA knowledge base. Automation is massivley changing DBA work. The primary goals is still data integrity and access to data, but data sets are growing which requires a extension of skills 1.NoSQL. Over the last couple of years I've seen products introduced into companies with ONLY a NoSQL option. It used to be you'd get multiple RDBMS options. How will NoSQL proceed.Will NoSQL progress into ACID? There are applications which require a key-value representation . How does the DBA deal with NoSQL? 2.InMemory - OLTP - It's in it's infancy , but... Read more →

dotNet framework 3.5 is a SQL Server 2012 prerequisite

When you install SQL Server 2012 on Windows 2012 – one of the prerequisites is .Net framework 3.5. You may be wondering why .Net 3.5 is installed 1) Installing .Net framework 3.5 includes .Net framework 2.0 , 3.0 and 3.5. 2) Starting from .Net 4 , applications requiring lower versions are not supported by .Net 4 3) It is possible applications require .Net 3.5 . Therefore a separate installation needs to occur of .Net 3.5 4) Even though you can install .Net 3.5 during the SQL Server 2012 installation it’s easier to make the .Net installation prior to starting the... Read more →

Diary of a DBA – Num 3 – Corporate Audit , SVC, NonClustered Indexes ,failed logon attempts

When a corporate audit finishes , there’s a rush of tasks to fix the findings. High on the agenda of DBAs is the security policy. An auditor compares findings with the SQL server security policy – highlighting discrepancies. My normal procedure is to supply a report of to the server owners. The owners are known to resist – particularly if the findings suggest security is tightened. The only way forward is to set up regular internal audits – cleaning up as you go along. I was dealing with a SQL Server performance issue this week. The Windows event viewer returned... Read more →

SQL Server - How to use SQL Backup Compression

There was a lack of space on a destination drive, so I decided to implement SQL Server 2008 Backup Compression . The aim was to decrease the size of the storage and fit the backup file onto the drive. The usage of COMPRESSION at the BACKUP phase is distinct from Data compression in SQL Server 2008 By default SQL Server 2008 has backup compression turned off. Check sp_configure. Adding the COMPRESSION keyword , triggers the COMPRESSION process. You’ll notice some increased CPU usage, so be careful with COMMPRESSION during high usage times. The size impact of the database compression will... Read more →

Data compression in SQL Server 2008

Data compression allows more rows to be stored in a page, but the maximum row size of a table or index does not change. There are a number of technical reasons for the DBA to consider often weighed up against perceived Database Cost Savings Compressed data is stored on fewer pages therefore less pages to read therefore less IO intensive. The cost is increased CPU to compress and decompress The first step taken in the data compression process is prefix compression. Prefix compression identifies a value per column which is used to decrease storage space. The second step is dictionary... Read more →