Many Data Professionals I deal with work with more than just SQL Server. I came from a background of COBOL flat-file databases, worked with Oracle, DB/2, Ingres, and lots of other databases as well. While I find that the SQL Server professionals I know...

Last night I had to do something on a production system that you're not supposed to do. It's not important what I did or where I did it, but I will explain why I did it. A friend was in a situation where it was either "break the rules" or lose the system...

If your company uses laptops (and of course they do) make sure that the data on them is secure, especially if you're using replication in SQL Server to store data on them. Here at Microsoft I use Vista on my laptop with Bitlocker - a free, easy-to-use...

I’m at PASS this year, and one of the things I’ve learned this time is that I can learn from – the vendors!  Most of the “big” names are here, like Idera, Redgate, Quest, and more, but I ran into some folks yesterday I hadn’t spoken with before ...

My good friend Stephen Wynkoop over at SSWUG.ORG has a great post today . I don't normally "cross post", referencing other people's material here on this blog, since I figure you're reading mine to learn something new. But this topic is so important I...

"You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today." - Abraham Lincoln I have a lot going on right now - I just got back from Brazil, I'm headed to Spain, and then back for PASS here in Seattle. One thing that I have learned when...

I've pointed out the "Connect.Microsoft.Com" site before, where you can enter feature requests and bugs for SQL Server. Did you know you can hit that site from within SSMS? Just click the "Community" menu item in SSMS and then "Send Feedback". That will...

No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible. - Stanislaw Jerzy Lec

Well, it's the last day of the conference. I had a great time in the booth this morning, and I gave two presentations today. The first is called " A day in the Life of the DBA", and in that presentation I promise to get an hour back for you in your DBA...

I’ve presented 6 sessions so far at TechEd Europe in Barcelona, and I’m explaining the how and why of the basics of Policy Based Management. Today I wanted to clear up a few terms that we use in PBM. The example I use in the demos is of a DBA named...

It's Friday - time for the quote of the day: "We think in generalities, but we live in detail." - Alfred North Whitehead

"Money doesn't make you happy. I now have $50 million but I was just as happy when I had $48 million." - Arnold Schwarzenegger

The other day I was working with a client on an application they were changing to a hybrid architecture – some data on-premise and other data in SQL Azure and Windows Azure Blob storage. I had them make a couple of corrections - the first was that...

One of the great things about attending the Summit Conference for the Professional Association of SQL Server (PASS) is that you can participate in studies that Microsoft conducts to find out how we create our next projects. My good friend Dr. Mark Stempski...

One of the main tasks I have is thinking about how we should design tools to help visualize a system. There are plenty of challenges, as I've alluded to before. Do youshow an object-based paradigm or a task-based one, or some of both? How do you manage...

We often get asked if we will ever create a tool that will manage not only SQL Server but other vendor's systems. I understand the desire - when I was a DBA I had several systems that I managed, and I wanted a tool that would do it all as well. I even...

I've written before (as have others) about the dangers of an "either/or" mentality with various technologies, including the "cloud". Companies are starting to understand this message - I've been traveling a lot this year from Alaska to California, from...

I recently interviewed (on Channel 9) a few of the folks that are presenting at PASS this year – I thought I would share the links so you can check them out: http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/LarryLarsen/Upcoming-SQL-PASS-Summit-1/ http://channel9.msdn.com...

I was working this weekend with a fairly simple Excel spreadsheet, and I had to decompose one cell in it out to three columns in a SQL Server table. There are tools within SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) that should be able to do that, but I just...

This morning I sat in on a panel discussing automation for SQL Server. Taking what we've learned about DBA's doing multiple jobs, we had a great set of questions around the best way to automate manually created maintenance plans and integrate them with...

I had a discussion the other day with someone who had some questions about Enterprise Edition of SQL Server 2008. In many cases, I've seen someone not using the "right size" of SQL Server. Many installations really call for Enterprise Edition...

Most days are pretty average – we have some highs, some lows, and just regular old work to do. But some days the sun is shining, your co-workers are especially nice, and everything just falls into place. You really *enjoy* what you do. Don’t let that...

There have been some questions from folks who have pre-released versions of Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack 1. SQL Server 2008 requires the RTM version, so if you have the pre-released version, you can go here to update it:  http://www.microsoft...

I was speaking with my class last evening about Business Intelligence projects. I divide BI projects into a few broad steps, regardless of the vendor for the solution at the end: 1. Understanding the business and its data 2. Designing the “Star...

No commentary needed, I think: There is always free cheese in a mousetrap. - Anonymous