Featured Article(s)
Undocumented Validation SQL Server 2008 DBCC Commands
In this article, Alexander Chigrik shows some useful undocumented validation DBCC commands that shipped with SQL Server 2008.
Last Day To Register! Workshop is TOMORROW
Tomorrow is the day – 3+ hours of SQL Server performance management and tuning – from understanding indexes, fragmentation and management to the native tools provided by SQL Server to more than 20 specific tips for TSQL optimization, there is a lot of information in this virtual workshop, and we’ll be bringing it all straight to you. You can even get a certificate after passing the quiz at the end of the course.
But you need to register. 🙂
[Register Here] or [Find out more]
Microsoft "Dallas" Platform – Things That Make You Think…
PDC is happening this week and Microsoft is out in full-force with announcements centered (thus-far) around cloud-based initiatives, specifically SQL and Windows Azure.
Something else, or a sub-set of this, caught my attention though. Yes, SQL Azure is cool and something to pay attention to, but Microsoft’s "Dallas" work is really intriguing.
Dallas is about better ways of getting access to and incorporating data from cloud-based sources into your own work. NASA information, company information and other data targets were all talked about and shown. Essentially, since all of the systems out there are moving toward a more data-connected world (Azure), it’s possible now to have information subscriptions. While it’s certainly possible today to get access to data sources, it’s possible under Dallas to fully-incorporate that information into your Office 2010 and PowerPivot tools. Further, it’s possible to get information from any number of sources (paid and public/free) and use that information in combination with your own information.
This is something that I think could really make a difference. Being able to more readily incorporate information from larger data sources means making better decisions because you’ll have more complete information. Add to that the fact that applications are getting smarter… I think application-generated information – that information actually generated through analysis or through automated processes – could become more valuable just from having more information to build on.
Another goal of having more ready-access to these larger stores of information reminds me a bit of the World Community Grid projects, combining information and processing power from around the world to solve big problems.
I can’t help thinking that this begins to impact database professionals sooner, rather than later, and I think it’s pretty amazing. From an architecture standpoint, being able to incorporate information from all sorts of sources (with more coming as data begins to generate more data) will be key. What’s more, you’ll be looking at needing to be able to combine sources that include XML feeds, CSV input files and other sources, and serve that information out to Office, Reporting Services, etc.
It’s going to be great to get working with these tools!
Featured White Paper(s)
Attention SSIS users: turbocharge your ETL applications with expressor
More and more users of Microsoft SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) for ETL are “bumping up against” its limits. They ha… (read more)