Yesterday concluded my month-long journey with a question and answer series.  That was fun having a structured series to follow and it really helped me with two projects I was working on because I had limited amount of time to dedicate to my blog.  I think I will do that again sometime in the near future, but I missed being able to update everyone with daily solutions to problems or changes to my goals.

Next week I will look back into the last month of my life and see what things you have missed while on our journey and try to revisit them for you.  In essence we can DVR the moments and fast forward the commercials.  Enjoy!

Let us continue our question of the day series with our final day, day thirty.

What is replication?

SQL Server replication is a process of distributing database objects across different instances and then synchronizing the data between the instances involved.  This is great for remote application as well as mobile users across slower networks.  I’ve personally worked with replication where data was synchronized over air cards to laptops with workers in the field with great success.

Enjoy!

Let us continue our question of the day series with day twenty-nine.

What are snapshot backups?

Snapshot backups are a specialized form of backup which minimize the use of the server resources to produce the backup.  They are typically done in conjunction with solutions provided by hardware and/or software vendors. 

Enjoy!

Let us continue our question of the day series with day twenty-eight.

What is snapshot replication?

Snapshot replication is similar to a database snapshot in that you can distribute a replica of the original database at a given point in time, however it does not update as the data changes going forward.  This snapshot is then replicated to subscribers.  This is a more appropriate solution if you have data that you want replicated but it does not change very often.

Enjoy!

Let us continue our question of the day series with day twenty-seven.

What are database snapshots?

A SQL Server database snapshot is a static view that is essentially a read-only image of an existing database.  When the snapshot is taken it is consistent with the original database and must reside on the same server and as data is modified in the original database, so will it be modified in the snapshot.  There are quite a few limitations in using database snapshots.

Enjoy!

Let us continue our question of the day series with day twenty-six.

What are roles in SQL Server?

A role is essentially a group of users similar to active directory groups used by SQL Server for security purposes.  In other words, you can grant permissions to the role and place users in the roles and they will inherit the permission for as long as they are placed inside of the role.  There are also fixed roles that have pre-defined permissions established.

Enjoy!

Let us continue our question of the day series with day twenty-five.

What is the activity monitor in SQL Server?

Activity monitor is a built-in monitor that provides information about the process, resource waits, data file input/output, and recent expensive queries that involve the current instance of SQL Server.  It also gives you a small graphical representation of the monitoring as shown below.

Enjoy!

Let us continue our question of the day series with day twenty-four.

Who is Codd and why do I care in regards to SQL Server ?

E.F. Codd was an English computer scientist with IBM who invented the relation model for databases.  The relational model is the core of the architecture essential to today’s modern relational database management systems (RDBMS).  Essentially all of the data involved in our lives is stored somewhere in an RDBMS.  Want to read his paper on the relational model, it’s available here.

Enjoy!

Let us continue our question of the day series with day twenty-three.

What is a constraint?

A constraint is simply a rule associated with a column in a table that any data entered must follow.  Some examples are the unique constraint which ensures that no two records possess the same value for the column in question.  Another commonly used constraint is the primary key constraint which provides a unique identifier for each row in a table.  It is similar to the unique constraint but the key difference is that the unique constraint just means that ONE column is unique whereas a primary key can include up to a combination of 16 columns to make it unique.  There is also the NOT NULL constraint which essentially means that the column cannot be left blank.

Enjoy!