17Apr 2008 by Grant Fritchey 4 Comments

ORM Concerns

Object Relational Mapping
Object Relational Mapping (ORM) software is a great idea. You can't deny that the mismatch between objects and relational data has to be dealt with. Instead of all the time, money and effort being spent here, why not get a tool that does most of the work for you? But... One direction that this can lead is towards dumb databases. After all, if putting a piece of software between the object & the db makes things easier, how much easier if the db and the object look exactly the same. Ta-da! Even less code to write & maintain. Unfortunately, TANSTAAFL (There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch) still applies. What you save in initial coding you will pay for in reporting, data cleanup, integrity issues, data integration issues...…
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11Apr 2008 by Grant Fritchey 5 Comments

nHibernate Database Benefits and Costs?

Object Relational Mapping, SQL Server
I posted this question over at SQL Server Central, just like my last post, I'm also posting it here. I need some help. I've been trying to research this and I can't find good, hard facts. Any help would be deeply appreciated. It looks like we might be facing a large project shifting over to using ORM methods through nHibernate. I'm trying to get a read from the database community on what exactly I should expect in terms of issues, challenges and headaches during the development process. I'm also interested in any long term maintenance issues, troubleshooting problems, etc. If your developers implemented ORM all the way down to storing object data on the database in a non-normalized/object oriented fashion, how did that affect you? Did it muck up reporting?…
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09Apr 2008 by Grant Fritchey 2 Comments

ORM Research

SQL Server
I posted this over at SQL Server Central, but I thought I'd repeat the question here: I really need some help on this one. One of our development teams is looking into ORM as a way to get code out the door faster. I've been doing a bunch of research on the topic (I'll post the links below) and I've found some interesting discussions over the pluses & minuses of the methdology. There are lots of positive examples of how well it works from all the vendors of various ORM products. I can't find any concrete examples of failed projects or long term maintenance nightmares or anything else like that. Even if ORM is the greatest thing since the flush toilet, there must be failures out there. Does anyone have…
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04Apr 2008 by Grant Fritchey 3 Comments

Sequel or Ess Cue Ell

Misc
It's Friday, why not a goofy post. What kind of DBA are you? Do you pronounce the bit at the beginning of SQL Server 2008 as a word, sequel, or as three letters, ess cue ell? I'm a sequel kind of guy myself for most everyday conversation. I do occasionally break it down when I need really specific clarity, but those events are rare. Anyone else?  And after you answer it here, go over to SSC and answer the question there too.
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02Apr 2008 by Grant Fritchey No Comments

SCOM Solution

Tools
I had posted a problem I was having with SCOM below. I got a good answer to the problem in the Microsoft discussion group. It was a silly little thing. The "SQL" alias inside the object needed a reference placed within the Management Pack definition. I've still go so much to learn about this tool.
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01Apr 2008 by Grant Fritchey 1 Comment

Performance Studio

Tools
I just found out about some new functionality coming out in SQL Server 2008 called Performance Studio. It's actually largely a framework around which you can build performance monitoring routines for an entire enterprise. This sounds terrific. I'm going to dig into a bit and make it my presentation for the Heroes {Community} Launch event at SNESSUG next week. Here's a Technet webcast on the topic. Here's a very nice blog entry over at SQLTeam (I suppose I should ad them to my blog roll) discussing the function of the Data Collector, the foundation for this new framework. Performance Studio only works with 2008 systems though, so that's something to take into account. Although I see an interview with Brad McGehee that says it's not enterprise ready. Another something to take…
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01Apr 2008 by Grant Fritchey 4 Comments

SQL Data Generator

Tools
I just received word from Rachel Hawley over at RedGate that SQL Data Generator has been released. I've been using the beta over the last few months and I've found it incredibly useful for setting up tests and playing around with my database designs, seeing how different data loads will be distributed through the indexes, etc. It's quick to use but fairly powerful and flexible and, frankly, pretty inexpensive. I strongly recommend it.
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01Apr 2008 by Grant Fritchey 8 Comments

SCOM Problem

Tools
I'm stuck. I posted this last week on the Microsoft SCOM newsgroup, but I'm not getting any responses. On the off chance that the 5 people a day who read this site might know the answer, here's the question as posted: I'm sure this is something fundamental and simple, but I'm honestly stuck. I'm attempting to capture a new Performance Counter, Plan Cache, Cache Hit Ratio, Object Plans & SQL Plans. When I lay it out to create it, I get the attached error. I'm assuming based on the "Unknown alias" and the fact that I'm in a custom management pack, something is amiss with the Management Pack. What? Any help at all would be appreciated. Date: 3/28/2008 11:29:55 AM Application: System Center Operations Manager 2007 Application Version: 6.0.6246.0 Severity:…
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