How to migrate your SQL Server database to Amazon RDS

Migrate on-prem SQL Server to AWS RDS has lots of challenges - Read more →

Array-based replication versus vSphere Replication

Thinking about how to approach large scale vSphere SQL Server migrations to new hardware Read more →

Day 2 Operations - Are you ready?

Question: I was in a meeting yesterday and heard a new term - "Day 2 Operations". In the context of the conversation Iit made sense, but I'd never heard it. Is this a formal concept? What are the specifics? Answer: In general terms - Day 2 operations refers to features of a product or platform which are in an operational state. Thinking about Day 2 operations as part of a lifecycle - we'd be discussing product usage in the advanced stages of the lifecycle, Day 0 -customer requirements -Architectural Design Day 1 -Build -Deployment -Best practises configuration Day 2 -Operations... Read more →

SELECT 1 FROM TABLE

Question: I'm working on an Enterprise application upgrade and have hit some problems. As part of the debugging process I'm inspecting the sql queries executing. The program is currently running SELECT 1 FROM TABLE. (replace TABLE with actual table name). What is the purpose of SELECT 1 FROM TABLE ? Answer: The SELECT 1 FROM TABLE technique is often used in certain products. The first question is what does this sql statement actually do? When you execute SELECT 1 FROM TABLE , there will be a Scan , because the purpose of SELECT 1 FROM TABLE is to return a... Read more →

When to use SQL Server Change Data Capture

There’s a number of things to consider in deciding on Change Data Capture (CDC) and deciding on the ideal use cases for CDC is very much dependant on the specific requirements. So it is important to understand in detail the project requirements. This should be weighed up against other solutions such as Triggers Some initial thoughts for discussion: For Auditing – CDC is an appropriate tool , as it can present the complete history of the data. Deciding on whether you’d rather use triggers will depend on reviewing the data in the change table and assessing whether it’s appropriate for... Read more →