The Bit Bucket

When I’m looking at a database schema for the first time, there are a number of tell-tale signs that give me the hint that the developers really haven’t done much work with SQL Server before. They’ve made a “newbie” mistake.

One of those is the extensive use of the float data type.

Most times that I see this, the developers have come from a C or Java background and they assume that something that needs a decimal point in it, needs to be float. There are some situations where float makes sense, but 99% of the time what they should have used was decimal.

2018-01-15

One of the principles of DevOps is that you should be able to deploy regularly, with smaller low-risk changes. This addresses a key problem that I see in many sites:

• Each code release is large
• The code is difficult to test
• Code merges are painful
• Deployments take a long time
• Deployments often fail
• Deployments are considered to be high-risk procedures

The end result of this situation is that deployments are avoided and then a snowball effect occurs where:

2018-01-12

In an earlier post, I showed how to create a DROP DATABASE template in SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS). At the time, I mentioned that a template wasn’t the best option because a command like this is normally inserted into a script; it’s not the whole script.

That’s where snippets shine. Let’s create a snippet for it.

First let’s open Code Snippets Manager (Tools > Code Snippets Manager):

You’ll see the existing snippet folders. I’ve clicked Add, then created a new folder called GL_Snippets.

2018-01-11

 

When I first start to work with a database that I haven’t seen before, one of the things that I check immediately is the type of data being stored. The list of existing data types often gives me interesting insights into the design of the database, and how it interacts with application code.

The list of data types also shows me details of the consistency (or lack of) in the design.

2018-01-10

There’s a nasty trend that I’ve seen at a number of sites in recent years. It’s the tendency to try to block and or censor anything that the company thinks might be an issue. Some companies are so concerned about their IP (intellectual property) that they even try to stop any potential leak of that property.

While on the surface, that all might seem to make sense, it’s not sensible. It’s unproductive.

2018-01-09

I see so much written about how to scale SQL Server systems, and this generally starts with needing to improve SQL Server database performance. When I read articles from the SQL Server field support teams with titles like Top 10 Performance Problems for SQL Server, I often just smile.

The problem is one of perspective. If you are looking at the performance problems that are brought to the support teams to solve, you get a very, very skewed view of what’s typical.

2018-01-08

In the second half of 2016, I enrolled in the Microsoft Professional Program for Data Science, and completed it in early 2017. I have to say that I really enjoyed it overall. It was a bit challenging at times but I don’t regret doing it.

If you want to get the certification, you need to enroll in the verified option for each course. Nowadays, that’s pretty much $99 USD per course. You can do it for free, and if you’re tight on funds, perhaps that’s what you should do. I like to support the concept, and like to support both Microsoft and edX for creating these options. They are doing amazing work, so while I hear people say to just do the courses and not contribute to them, I can’t say that I agree.

2018-01-05

A few weeks back, I mentioned how useful templates can be. I said that I’d discuss how to create them later. Well that’s today.

I thought I’d take dropping a database as an example. The supplied template doesn’t work for me, so let’s create a new one.

Note: SQL Server 2016 SP1 introduced DROP DATABASE IF EXISTS but I find that option quite useless. It fails if anyone is connected to the database. And to disconnect people beforehand, you need to first check if it exists, so the statement is pointless.

2018-01-04

Is 2018 be a leap year?

Was 2000 a leap year?

Will 2100 be a leap year?

When I was a young student at school, we learned that leap years were every four years. Then as I got older, I learned that there was more to it than that.

It’s important to understand that any calendar is just an approximation, and there is a lot more to calendars than most people realize.

2018-01-03

Database mirroring was added in SQL Server 2005. One of the features added to it in SQL Server 2008 was auto page repair. When SQL Server 2012 was released, Availability Groups also offered auto page repair.

Just how useful is this feature though?

I’ll start by saying that it can’t hurt.

When SQL Server is reading a page on the primary replica and receives an unrecoverable I/O error (typically but not always, an error 823 for a checksum error), it will try to repair the page when:

2018-01-02