The Bit Bucket

Not long back, it became very common for dodgy domain registration companies to send letters to domain owners that they weren’t dealing with. Rather than saying “hey we’re a great registrar and here’s why you should switch to us”, the common ploy was to send out something that looked like a renewal notice, hoping that the receiver would just authorize and pay it without thinking. In Australia, the ACCC (basically the consumer watchdog) has been chasing down and taking action against such practices.

2009-11-09

Sorry that shows have been slow coming this year. That’s about to change (famous last words).

The good news is that show 45 with guest SQL Server MVP Jamie Thomson discussing SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) is now available for download from https://sqldownunder.com . In the show, Jamie discusses lessons he learned while moving from DTS to SSIS and covers off many best practices for working with SSIS.

Enjoy!

2009-11-09

My colleague Antonio Soto pointed us at a new (and free) book providing Sharepoint-related advice for SQL Server administrators. You’ll find it here: SharePoint guidance for SQL Server 2008 database administrators (Downloadable book)

2009-11-08

This is no ordinary book. Paul Nielsen took up Bill Gates’ challenge at a recent MVP summit to do something notable to give back to the community. He organised a large group of SQL Server MVPs to create a unique book and worked with Manning to get it published. The money made on the book was to go directly to a charity and the charity chosen was WarChild.

I had the privilege (along with Kalen Delaney, Adam Machanic, Kimberley Tripp and Paul Randall) to be one of the editors on this book but the magic contribution has come from the 53 SQL Server MVPs involved with the book.

2009-10-31

The next SQL Down Under show planned is with Jamie Thomson, well-known SSIS identity. If you have any burning questions you’d like to see addressed in the show, send them now!

2009-10-31

Given my interest in science, I’m ashamed to say that I’ve only just got around to reading Charles Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection or the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life”. What prompted me to read it this time was watching two episodes of “The Genius of Charles Darwin” while flying across to the U.S. It’s an excellent documentary by Richard Dawkins. Dawkins can see overbearing at times but in this series, he’s measured, accurate and inspiring. In the documentary, he showed one of his most prized possessions: a first edition copy of this book.

2009-10-31

Our buddy Kevin Kline has started a travel meme to provide ideas for people travelling to PASS, given many don’t travel very often. He’s after some good solid travel tips. I’m one of the people he called out so here are a few that come to mind immediately:

1. Delays and mishaps occur. If you don’t allow enough time between flight connections, etc. then you are asking for problems, regardless of what the airline says. For example, I *never* allow an international to domestic connection through Los Angeles of less than three hours and prefer four hours. The further you’re travelling from, the more you can get delayed. Airlines will let you book a two hour connection there. Don’t do it. If you’re feeling frustrated with delays, get over it.

2009-10-26

I’ve had quite a few requests from people for some form of searchability for the content in the SQL Down Under shows. We’ve looked into having show transcripts posted and after a few false starts, I’m pleased to announce that they are starting to come online now in the “Previous Shows” section at: https://sqldownunder.com .

While not perfect, they certainly can help. If you are reading them and find any glaring errors, please just let us know and we’ll fix them. We’re working backwards through the shows and the first three transcripts are available now.

2009-10-25

I missed out on getting a copy of this book when Ed Katibah (aka Spatial Ed) was giving them out at his spatial session at a recent conference but I made a mental note to buy a copy and read it. I’ve finally got to do so.

This is a truly excellent book. I think the title belies the contents. I hadn’t been in a hurry to read it as I thought it would just be a “beginner” level book on using spatial data in SQL Server 2008. How wrong I was. This book covers so much of what you need to know to make effective use of spatial data. It spends time on explaining spatial concepts, proceeds to describe the data types and later thoroughly covers all the methods offered by the types. But the real bonus is the in depth coverage of how to use the spatial types in a practical way. Alastair spends time covering geocoding data, building a SQLCLR-based function for geocoding, building procs to return data, building a web handler to offer spatial feeds, building mashups with both GoogleMaps and VirtualEarth using the feeds, etc.

2009-09-30

I was honored to get asked by Itzik Ben-Gan to write part of this book, along with him, Ed Katibah (Spatial Ed), Isaac Kunen, Dejan Sarka and Roger Wolter. I’m even more pleased that it’s now available, all 832 pages of it!

Needless to say, I do recommend this one :-)