PASS Chapter Spotlight

Misc
The Southern New England SQL Server Users Group was picked for the February spotlight on the PASS web site. This was largely based on the work we did helping Adam Machanic run the New England Data Camp. I've said it before and I'll say it again, we helped. Adam did 90% of the work. It's still good to be singled out. Thanks PASS and thanks to the volunteers at SNESSUG.
Read More

PASS Editorial Board: Blog Directory

PASS
Andy Warren and the PASS Editorial Board have posted their first delivery, a blog directory of SQL Server blogs. That's as complete a list as you're likely to see, anywhere, on blogs related to SQL Server. Well done everyone. This is just the beginning of a new and growing set of services from the PASS organization. If you're not a member, get on over there and join up. It's free. While you're there, get hooked into the  PassPort networking service. Now I need to get more work done on my part of the deliverables.
Read More

Silly SQL Server 2008 Management Studio Trick

SQL Server
This one is pretty minor and came up in the forums at SQL Server Central. You may have noticed that the Registered Servers window is tabbed with the Object Explorer window. In SQL Server 2005, they were in the same window, stacked on top of each other. To get back to the "good old days" configuration, you can right click on the Registered Servers tab and select Floating. This will cause the window to detach and appear somewhere on your screen. Right click on it again and select Dockable. Now drag it on to the Object Explorer window and it should settle in on top. Ta da, back with the old GUI.
Read More

Things you know now 2

Misc
I can't believe I forgot this: Test, Test, Test And when you're done testing, test some more. You can't assume that you know how something works. You need to know how it works. Test it. Verify your database design by testing. Check your queries by testing them. Be sure the new index works by testing it. Test the new deployment process before you announce it to the development (way before). When you get done with all this testing... Start testing again.
Read More

Things you know now…

Misc
Brent Ozar has passed on another doozie. His list is pretty good. Since I'm much more a tactical guy than a big picture strategic guy, my advice to me in the past is going to be more tactical in nature. Learn the Rules of Normalization Yeah, eventually I picked up  on them, but not before I built about six or seven systems I would be profoundly embarassed to show anyone today. I realize that pointing at the fundamentals is just shy of a non-answer to the question, but the fact of the matter is, I was a bit of a cowboy. Still am. The beauty, and curse, of being a cowboy is, you tend to bypass things. Sometimes, you're riding by trouble you just don't need. Other times, you're hell bent for…
Read More

VSTS:DB More on Composite Projects

Visual Studio
It occurred to me, all the searches coming by looking for information on composite projects in VSTS:DB, maybe instead of wondering how it's done you're wondering why it's done. In the GDR release there are three kinds of projects you can create; database, server, partial. Database and Server projects are created directly through the VS GUI as new projects and I covered that a bit in the last post. Partial projects are something different. Partial projects are pieces of structure or code, for example a tally table, that you want to share across multiple projects. Partial projects are created by accessing the object or objects you want to define as a partial project in the Solution Explorer. Right click on the object(s) and select Export As Partial Project. This creates a…
Read More

VSTS:DB Composite Projects

Tools, Visual Studio
I've seen several searches go by from people who are looking for how to create composite projects. Here's a quick run-down. In the example, I'm going to create a main database project called BaseDB, a server project called MyServer, and a composite project that combines the two called Comp. This project is just another database project as you can see in Figure 1: [caption id="attachment_379" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="New Database Project"][/caption] Once the new project is created, you need to right click on the References object in the Solution Explorer. Figure 2: From the pop-up menu select Add Database Reference. The window in Figure 3 will pop up: [caption id="attachment_383" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="Add Database Reference"][/caption] You can select the other projects for a dynamic view into their changes, or for a…
Read More