I find that I'm using containers more and more to get things done with SQL Server. They're so easy to set up for testing, spin 'em up, do stuff, turn 'em off, done. So, as I learn more and more about them, I figured it was time to start to share that learning here on the blog. First up, I'm NOT an expert on this topic. The two best people I know currently on this are Anthony Nocentino and Andrew Pruski. Those are the people you really should be learning the details from. I'm going to try to start to cover the introductory level of containers, Docker, and, at some point in the future, Kubernetes (maybe) and other orchestrators. However, I know that as my knowledge of how to work…
Schemas are a very useful tool for managing the objects in your database. From security through process, through placement, schemas provide you with another tool to control how your database behaves. Schemas The tables created so far in this blog series have all been attached to a schema, dbo. Depending on how you login to the server and the security settings for your user, this is usually the default schema. A schema is simply a container in which you place objects. Once placed there, a schema is a method for managing the objects it contains. Schemas give you a simple way to control placement of the objects on filegroups. Schemas are a very easy way to manage security. The use of schemas becomes extremely important as your database becomes more…
I've had people come up to me and say "PostgreSQL is open source and therefore license free. Why on earth would I put PostgreSQL in Azure?" Honestly, I think that's a very fair question. The shortest possible answer is, of course, you don't have to. You can host your own PostgreSQL instances on local hardware, or build out VMs in Azure and put PostgreSQL out there, some other VM host, or maybe in Kubernetes containers, I mean, yeah, you have tons of options. So why PostgreSQL in Azure, and specifically, I mean the Platform as a Service offering? Let's talk about it. PostgreSQL in Azure Let's assume for a moment that you're PostgreSQL expert (I'm not, but I do play one on TV). You know exactly how to set up…
In case you don't know, I've been writing a series of articles over on Simple-Talk as I learn PostgreSQL. It's all from the point of view of a SQL Server person, expanding into a new technology. In other words, a true story. I thought I'd take a moment here on my own blog to talk about the tools I'm using and why I chose those. AWS RDS Let's establish up front, I'm lazy. Very lazy. So yeah, I'm trying to learn this new technology, but I'm going to find as many ways to use the knowledge, skills & tools I already have as I can. Now, I first started learning PostgreSQL because I wanted to learn more about how Flyway works. Further, as I also needed to learn how to…
As I've been working more with PostgreSQL, I've found that I'm basically pretty happy just issuing SQL commands to get work done. However, it's handy to have an actual programming environment to work from. A few reasons for this. First, and probably most important, a good programming environment has easy connections to source control. Also, you'll get, hopefully, some help with type-ahead for the code you're writing. Finally, having a visual of the stuff in your database can be handy while working on it, so a GUI is nice. I use Azure Data Studio for most of my PostgreSQL work. Azure Data Studio and PostgreSQL I'm not sure exactly when support for PostgreSQL was added. The two years I've been poking around with PostgreSQL, Azure Data Studio (ADS) has supported…
I have long been a fan of Azure Data Studio, but one shortcoming has kept me from truly adopting it: Query Plans in Azure Data Studio. Sure, there was a plug-in you could install. Also, you could use a somewhat truncated version of Plan Explorer, but all I wanted was for SQL Server Management Studio plans to be query plans in Azure Data Studio. Go and get version 1.35 of the tool. Right now. DUDE! You have 1.35 of Azure Data Studio? Cool. Now, go to the menu bar. Click on "File." Click on "Preferences". Click on "Settings". Now, type the following into the search box: workbench editor enable preview. You should see this: Check the box below where it says "Workbench > Editor: Enable Preview" just like I have…
While I have not yet signed the contract, I have submitted an outline and proposal for a new version of my book on query performance tuning. Most of the information in the existing book is still very valid and immediately applicable. However, some of the information is out of date. Other pieces can be tweaked to tell a better story. A little bit of it is just wrong or has aged out of applicability. Because of all this, I'm not simply going to update the existing book. Instead, this time, it's a complete, from scratch, rewrite. All the way. I'm planning to drop entirely the chapters on hardware. I'm doing this for a bunch of reasons. One, hardware has changed radically over the years. Of all the information in the…
In my last post I showed some shortcomings of Extended Events, however, it is possible to use Live Data with Azure. Let's explore exactly how that works. To get started, you'll need to follow the directions here to get set up with Azure Storage as the output target of your Extended Events session within your Azure SQL Database. There is a little bit of prep work, but it's all laid out in Microsoft's document. I found the Powershell to be a bit sketchy, but it shows you what's needed. The T-SQL just works. Live Data With Azure Once you've created an Extended Events Session that is output to Azure Storage, you've done most of the work. The trick is really simple. Get the Azure Storage account set up with a…
As part of my job, I've been tasked with doing some of my work in Oracle, so I'm learning Oracle. Allow me to share a little of my pain as I explore a space I've only ever dabbled in. Getting Started in Oracle Back in the day, in order to get started with Oracle, you begin at the Oracle web site. There, you download an installation, after getting a license (or while, whatever). In our modern era, this is the hard way to get stuff done. The first place I went was Azure. There is excellent Oracle support on the Azure platform and, best of all for me, it's really easy to fire up an Oracle VM. I had a server up and running in no time. Win! Another way…
I was contacted by Stellar Info quite a while ago. They asked me to try out their software. I said yes, but I was really bad about getting it done. Well, I finally got off my bottom and did the job. So, let's talk about Stellar Repair for SQL Server. Stellar Repair Let's start with the most important piece of information you need: it works. The software itself is really simple to use and just does what you need, repairs your corrupted SQL Server instance. On that alone, I can recommend the tool. However, there are a few gotchas I ran into along the way. Mostly, little stuff. It's things a little polish in the UI and some clean up around language could help out. Don't get me wrong, I'm…