I read a great book last night called "The Psychology of Everyday Things" by Donald Norman. It's actually an older book that explores what works and what doesn't from a usability perspective. That's interesting to my group since we are in charge of the...

You hear all the time that your code (not just Microsoft's; everybody in a software development firm hears this) has features in it that "nobody wants". But is this true? Well, sometimes it is. But sometimes there are solid business (not necessarily...

As I was working through the list of customer requests for the next feature set in SQL Server 2008, one item that kept floating to the top was "multiple monitor support". More and more of us are using two flat-screen monitors to do our work each day....

A lot of the comments I get at conferences and over e-mail ask for various features within the management tools. To be sure, there are many things we can do to make the tools better, but many times (over half, actually) I end up saying "You know you can...

A friend of mine from Tampa, Florida wrote me the other day with an interesting observation: "I have a small finding and don't know where to publish it. Maybe you can help get the word out via your blog? OPEN SYMMETRIC KEY is somewhat costly...

OK - this might be stretching the "Is this Useful" question a bit, but hey, I needed it today and thought I would share it with you - it's free! This construct takes the whitespace out of a string. /* usc_DBA_Remove_White_Space.sql Removes extra...

You know, more than just about any other question I get the most common is around connection security for SQL Server Management Studio. Let's take a couple of scenarios and walk through the basics. Windows Accounts on SQL Server (Windows Authentication...

There are a lot of tools in SQL Server 2005 that will help you with indexes, from enhanced plan diagrams to the Database Tuning Advisor. But I was scouting around this morning for a script that would find places where I had indexes that included duplicate...

Wow - I have a new job where I'm trying to drink from a firehose of knowledge, my mother was up for the week from Florida (see here for more on that: http://carpedatum.spaces.live.com/ ), I had to write a complete tutorial on locking, get a project plan...

Feeling a bit adventurous, I've installed the latest Longhorn Beta and then SQL Server 2005 Developer Edition on top of it. Other than the inevitable video driver issues, it's been pretty stable. One feature I do like is the "Server Manager" that pops...

Our group (the Management Platform Team) is heavily involved in the PowerShell-as-it-applies-to-SQL area. We're working on a new provider for SQL Server 2008, as I'm sure you've seen in some of the demos we've been giving at various user groups. Well...

This one is an oldie but a goodie. I don't remember who originally gave me this, but I've edited it over the years. Works on SQL Server 2000 and 2005. /* usc_DBA_Show_Lock_Types.sql Author: Unknown Purpose: Shows the various locks taken on...

Everyone is trying to figure out where technology is these days. We seem to be somewhere between alchemy and a mature industry like construction or telecommunications. we've come from single-seat cowboy shops where just a few IT people could understand...

Sure, you can get the number of processors fairly easily ffrom SQL Server. But did you know you can also get the number of actual cores as well? This little gem works with SQL Server 2005: SELECT cpu_count/hyperthread_ratio AS sockets FROM sys.dm_os_sys_info;...

First it was "cyber-". Everything had to start with "cyber". Then it was "e-", and then "i-". Now it seems to be "My". While buzzwords are great marketing tools, what is really important? First, it matters that things work. I'm on the Management Platform...

Last night I gave a presentation to the Pacific Northwest SQL User Group. I mentioned that we often think our biggest problems are lack of time, too much work, people we have to deal with or technical issues. But all of us get done only what we can, we...

I think one of the most asked and answered questions in SQL (not just SQL Server, but SQL engines in general) is "How do I find/get the data from table A to table B?" In fact, you've probably seen multiple variations of the question and the answer. I...

I was recently asked about which tables are involved in a maintenance plan in SQL Server 2005.The primary tables are: msdb.dbo.sysmaintplan_subplans msdb.dbo.sysmaintplan_log msdb.dbo.sysmaintplan_logdetail msdb.dbo.sysdbmaintplans msdb.dbo.sysdbmaintplan_jobs...

Whenever you're developing a new application that hits SQL Server, make sure you design in security from the outset. In the new releae of the Community Tehcnal Preview (CTP) for SQL Server 2008, you'll notice that there are several new improvements in...

Have you ever forgot to set the database when you ran a query, filling the master system database with your user objects? And I'll bet you used the dbo user too, didn't you? Doh! Here's a quick way to ferret those out so you can clean them up: ...

I've been with Microsoft for about a year now. It's an interesting place to work, and I've enjoyed it here. I started with the SQL Server "User Education" team, and I've written documentation for Books Online, whitepapers and other technical outlets....