You might be wondering what value there is in adding yet another SQL Blog to the web. I’ve thought about this for a long time myself. Here are the most salient points I’ve come up with.

I’m a SQL Developer. I’ve been working with MSSQL almost exclusively for 13 years now. I currently work for Microsoft MSN in the adCenter group. The database I work with most of the time has now grown to over 100 TB. Some evenings, when I’m not at Microsoft, I can be found teaching SQL. I enjoy SQL and working with really big databases. I also enjoy teaching. And, I think you might benefit from some of my experience...

As a DBA, then as a Developer, I’ve seen (and done) a lot of stupid things. For example, before MSSQL replication was available, I created a system for replicating data between a SQL 6.0 database on one server and a SQL 6.5 database on another. It used xp_sendmail, xp_readmail, and triggers that fired for every insert, update, or delete. It worked great for several days, then the sent mail exchange folder reached its size limit… This is not the sort of mistake a sane developer would make more than once. And, I can relate any number of equally stupid things I’ve tried that didn’t work quite like I had expected.

I’ve also learned some really useful things. Some are fairly simple things that any SQL Dev. or Admin. with even moderate skill could use. Some are quite esoteric and, perhaps, only useful to the more advanced.

Working with SQL and teaching SQL, I’ve noticed noticed that many of the things I know how to do (and teach) that my students find most useful are not even mentioned in books on line, most of the blogs, or in any of the SQL books you can find at the local book store. They are tribal knowledge, things I learned from other Developers, or tricks I stumbled on quite by accident. In addition, I’ve come to believe that because a thing can be done does not mean it should be done.

With that in mind, I’d like to use this blog to relate some of the things I’ve learned along the way. From time to time, I’ll also tell you about a few of the dumb things I’ve tried and why they didn’t work. (In the next post, I'll tell you all about my home grown replication system and point out some of the more egregious mistakes I made there.)

I hope you will find this Blog interesting, perhaps even a little entertaining from time to time. And if, along the way, I manage to help you with some problem you’ve been trying to solve? Well, that would be just dandy…

charlie