The Bit Bucket

The Azure team keep rolling out improvements at an amazing pace. Scott Guthrie posted recently about the latest set of changes. Here are the ones that I think are most important for SQL people:

Import/Export Hard Drives

Even though Azure storage accounts can hold a very large amount of data, one of the big questions has always been about how to get that data into the storage account in the first place. That question is now answered because the new Windows Azure Import/Export service lets you ship hard drives directly to the Azure team for uploading. The reverse is also available. If you export a large amount of data to a storage account, you can move it onto a hard drive and have the drive sent to you.

2013-11-14

I had the distinct honour (honor) this week of recording a new SQL Down Under podcast with Dr David DeWitt from the Jim Gray Systems Lab at Microsoft. Anyone that has been to a PASS summit over the last few years would know that David seems to have single-handedly converted morning keynotes into must-attend events.

In this podcast, David explains his role, gives a philosophical view on where we’re at in the database industry and discusses core enhancements in SQL Server 2014.

2013-11-14

Hi Folks,

If you want to get your head around the core improvements coming in the SQL Server 2014 wave, I’m presenting a Technet Live session on November 29th (Australian time).

Registration is here: https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032570709&Culture=en-AU&community=0

I’d love to see you online.

2013-11-14

A while back, we changed the format of our monthly SQL PASS meetings to a virtual format for most meetings, as it makes it easier for a lot of people to attend.

Tomorrow (lunch time Melbourne time), I’m delivering another one on compression technologies in SQL Server. In this session, we’ll take a tour through vardecimal in 2005, then onto row and page compression in 2008, then xVelocity based compression in 2012, and finally looking at what 2014 offers in this regard.

2013-10-07

Azure updates continue to come thick and fast.

Scott Guthrie has posted again today about a number of enhancements just released. From these, I think the following are the most interesting for SQL Server devotees:

1. I posted last week about the new A5 size Azure VMs. These will be a good option for many SQL VMs, particularly those based on tabular data models.

2. Microsoft continues their partnership with Oracle by providing VM templates with Oracle software preinstalled. This is by far the quickest way to try any of this software, particularly for SQL Server folk that just want to try something on Oracle versions. Versions supported are:

2013-09-27

In Windows Azure SQL Database, a database “server” is a logical concept that’s used to keep details of connected databases. It does have a “master” database but it’s not like the on-premises equivalent. It’s pretty much a container for logins.

Generally there is no point provisioning a server that has no databases. Servers aren’t charged separately, only the user databases are charged for.

The Azure team has now made a change that means that if you have a server that hasn’t had any user databases within the last 90 days, it will be automatically deleted. It’s important to be aware that this can happen. The only thing that would be lost would be any pre-configured logins. You would need to recreate them when you later decide to provision a user database.

2013-09-25

Previously, when you selected a VM size in Azure, you had to choose a large size to get a bunch of memory.

Now a new A5 size has been provided and you can get 14GB of memory on a VM that only has two virtual cores, rather than only on the 8 core servers that were available before. The pricing is about 2/3 of the price of the 8 core version.

2013-09-24

I previously posted about enabling your Azure benefits before the end of this month if you have an MSDN subscription. Doing so doesn’t cost any more, and it adds a bunch of money for Azure credits into your account each month.

If you have an MSDN subscription and you haven’t do it, don’t put it off. Follow the link and do so (plus you might win an Aston Martin just for doing so):

2013-09-24

One of the things that I find very poorly done in most SQL Server sites that I visit is source code control for database objects.

You can connect SQL Server Management Studio with source code control systems, to make it easier to manage scripts, etc. One way of doing this is to configure an SCCI (source code control interface) provider. You can get the one that works with SSMS.

Once you’ve installed that, you’ll find an “Add to source control” option appearing when you create new script projects. If it doesn’t seem to be enabled, see this article:

2013-09-12

At TechEd Australia last week, I presented a number of sessions.

The first of these is now available online. It was a session on my thoughts on how you’d choose between staying with multidimensional models in SSAS or moving to the newer tabular models.

Enjoy!

http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/Australia/2013/DBI212

2013-09-10