Blog Archives
24 Hours of PASS, Free Training Today!
Today is the semi-annual 24 Hours of PASS free training day. Sessions started at just a little while ago, so you still have time to sign up here. There is something here for everyone from business intelligence to professional development to hard core database administration. I personally am signed up to watch eight different sessions throughout the day, work permitting; it would be more but there is some stuff that I just do not work with. So get out on out there and get your SQL Learning on. Enjoy!
SQL PASS Summit is Less Than Seven Weeks Away!
This morning I came across a stark reality: SQL PASS Summit 2012 is less than seven weeks away! I cannot fully describe the emotions of my first trip to Summit; some anxiety, mostly excitement, fear of the unknown, anticipation of meeting so many online friends and a thirst for new knowledge. I am so ready for the networking, the learning, the socializing with #SQLKaraoke, the after parties, but mostly just hanging out with my #SQLFamily.
On a personal note, I have been to Seattle once in my life, in high school. Five friends, my math teacher and I went on a field trip before my junior year where we participated in the Mu Alpha Theta National Mathematics competition after winning the State competition for Algebra II. Mathletes Rock! What a beautiful city! It will be great to see Mt. Ranier, the sky needle, the monorail, Puget Sound, and the fish market. I am sure a lot has changed in the last 25 years, I know the King Dome is no longer there, but we took a tour as the Mariners where out-of-town on a road trip and sat in the dugout and the locker room. Good times!
I when I return home I will have some new Seattle memories that I will cherish for many years to come. Enjoy!
Getting to Know sp_helpuser
The stored procedure, sp_helpuser, is useful in showing various information about the users such as login name, default database, default schema and the SID. You can also see if a user name is aliased. I hope you find this useful. Enjoy!
Series of Posts Wrapped Up
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!
Question of the Day Thirty
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!
Question of the Day Twenty-Nine
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!
Question of the Day Twenty-Eight
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!
Question of the Day Twenty-Seven
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!
Question of the Day Twenty-Six
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!
Question of the Day Twenty-Five
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!
SQL Swampland 