If the email I am receiving is any indication of what is happening around databases is true, here are some of the hot skills. DevOps Simplified Database Change Management Services in the Cloud On Site and Cloud combined implementations…especially SQL Server BI of any type Machine Learning If you’re like me, you get a lot of Email daily, and it […]

What is your key management process? When it comes to encryption, encryption key management is probably the most important part. It is more important than what encryption methodology you use. The encryption key is the backbone to all encryption, regardless of using a salt, or anything else. There are a few key aspects of a key management process that you […]

I think I need to clarify some terms when it comes to monitoring your systems. I find there may be two different kinds of monitoring. Monitoring for your system is coming down. User activities are very slow, or dropped on the floor Monitoring the continuous operations of your ENTIRE system, from the users perspective There are great tools, as David […]

Have you had a chance to look at the Query Data Store introduced in SQL Server 2014. This is a great, out of the box, monitoring tool when it comes to query execution plans. The execution plan for a query may change over time due to different factors. When available memory is stressed, SQL Server will release cached query plans […]

When you want to know about performance of your application, you need to base the performance on the overall experience of the consumer. That means you must include all the time from the request being sent from the client until the response has been returned. Depending on your system, there may be many different process interactions, maybe on different servers […]

One of the most difficult things I have experienced in working with computer systems is to know when to have the honest discussion, and decide to cut your losses, and move in a different direction. Many times we begin a project with some degree of risk, simply because there are things you can’t know ahead of time. Sometimes you make […]

I was reviewing the Full Text Search Engine implementation for SQL Server today, and came across a few things I didn’t know, and wanted to pass on. Before I get to the things new to me, let me start with a high level explanation of what the Full Text Search Engine is and does. The Full Text Search capabilities have […]

One other service you will find related to SQL Server in your windows services is the SQL Browser Service. Like the name says, it provides resolution when connecting to SQL Server instances. However, the resolution is local. It does not interrogate other SQL Server Instance on the network, as I originally thought. Where did this service come from, and what […]

If you take a look at the NT Services available in support of one or more instances of SQL Server you are likely to find SQL Server Browser, and SQL Server VSS Writer. I was really intrigued by the VSS Writer when I saw that service show up the first time years ago. At one time I thought it was […]

I’ve been working on a project for a client that features a component to be shared with more than one application. The client has had a lot of problems with these kinds of components. They have tried implementations using micro-services, web services, project libraries, or sharing the project in multiple solutions. A frequent occurrence is that two different applications are […]