Over the last year, I’ve been working on an update to the whitepaper Plan Caching in SQL Server 2008 as a background task.
A great group of reviewers have been involved at various stages during the process. Thank you to Paul White, Andrew Kelly, Kalen Delaney, and Rubén Garrigós from the SQL community, along with Leigh Stewart and Jack Li from the SQL Server product team for sharing your knowledge and ideas.
2013-03-16
Hi Folks,
I got to record another podcast today. Show 57 features guest SQL Server MVP Karen López. Karen is well-known in the SQL Community, on her blog and is prolific on Twitter.
In the show, Karen discusses her experiences related to data modelling, including tools, round-tripping, traceability, and model-driven development. She also covers some common mistakes she encounters in this area. Later in the show Karen discusses the challenges in database refactoring, her interest in all things to do with space, and her interest in the open data movement.
2013-03-12
I recorded another podcast today with Thomas LaRock, aka SQL Rock Star.
In this show, Tom and I discussed the migration of many DBAs into architect roles, the challenges in constant learning (and useful resources for doing so), the hype around big data, the role of Windows Azure in our future, and upcoming PASS events.
It’s online now: https://sqldownunder.com/podcast
Enjoy!
2013-03-02
I recorded another podcast today. This time it’s SQL Server MVP Erin Welker discussing dimensional modelling and being a BI consultant.
The show is online now: https://sqldownunder.com/podcast
Enjoy!
2013-02-23
Over the last few months, I’ve been a tech reviewer on John Sirmon and Heidi Steen’s new whitepaper.
It’s published today on MSDN: Hardware Sizing a Tabular Solution (SQL Server Analysis Services)
Its goal is to help you determine the amount of memory and CPU resources needed to accommodate query and processing workloads in a production environment.
Recommended!
2013-02-13
There are some terms in IT that make their way straight into the hype stratosphere. Unfortunately “big data” is one of these. I see very few systems that I’d contend are actually “big data”. However, I endlessly see the term applied to data stores that are trivial by today’s standards. This might help the marketing teams but it’s sad none-the-less. There are some technological challenges that really do start to bite as the data volume really does start to become large, and as the proportion of unstructured and semi-structured data increases. There are also some very interesting new tools that allow us to process larger volumes of data faster, particularly in relation to analytics, and a large market building around Hadoop and its derivatives.
2013-02-10
SQL Server 2008 R2 SP2 and SQL Server 2012 SP1 introduced sys.dm_db_stats_properties. This DMV is a new way to check the number of rows that have been modified since the last time a set of statistics was updated. It is described here
In the latest version of Ola’s tools, he’s made use of this new DMV for customers that are on one of these SQL Server versions. For customers on earlier versions, he continues to use sys.sysindexes in the same way he did previously.
2013-02-08
SQL Down Under show 54 is now available for download.
In this show, I spoke with Grant Fritchey on his experiences with query tuning and reading SQL Server execution plans. We also discuss SQL Kilts.
You’ll find the show at our podcasts page: https://sqldownunder.com/Resources/Podcast.aspx
Enjoy!
2013-02-02
There has been a lot of discussion over the years about whether or not it’s a good idea to introduce new functionality in service packs (for SQL Server, the OS, and others). The concern is that it can invalidate testing, invalidate documentation, books, courseware, etc. However, it can also introduce much-needed features without having to wait for another version of the product. It’s been even-less likely that new functionality would be introduced in a cumulative update (or CU), which are basically a set of rolled-up hotfixes.
2013-01-27
I promised there would be a bunch of shows this year. The second one is now published.
In this show, SQL Server MVP Grant Paisley describes PowerPivot, Power View, Analysis Services Tabular vs Multidimensional and shares the lessons he’s learned when working with these tools.
The show is here: https://sqldownunder.com/podcast
Enjoy!
2013-01-22
