If you are a SQL Server DBA, you must have heard of database called mssqlsystemresource. This mystery database isn’t known by many because this is not visible to all. There are few special characteristics of this database which are often misunderstood, but good to know about. The reasons for this database will become evident after you read this […]
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While backups are the backbone for any database administrator, there hasn’t been much improvement in this space for a long time. Now, a new feature in SQL Server 2014 called Encrypted Backups, lets you choose to encrypt the backup file during a backup operation. You must use either a certificate or an asymmetric key to perform encryption during […]
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If you have read about new features introduced in SQL Server 2014, then you must have learned about the Buffer Pool Extension feature. This feature which will help DBAs to extend the Buffer Pool size beyond available physical RAM. One can easily compare this to the page file for an operating system – but it is even […]
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In the 1990s and early 2000s, it was considered common knowledge that Oracle databases were not very good at pure number crunching. As a result, many people used C-based and other external methods to perform extensive calculations. Eventually, Oracle introduced a group of datatypes that could finally provide the required level of performance: BINARY_INTEGER, BINARY_FLOAT, […]
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One of the most typical problems when processing textual information is filtering out good characters from bad characters. The approach of splitting strings into single-symbol arrays and validating them against a given list was outdated many years ago. But even when using the built-in functionality provided by Oracle, you need to understand the strengths and […]
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SimpleReach Slide Plugin Version: 0.7.6 You’re still here? Why? There hasn’t been anything new to read here for weeks! Sorry, I’ve been busy, sitting in endless meetings, learning how to play “manager”. It hasn’t been pretty.I’m back, with a new tale of good versus evil. For dramatic effect, I suggest that you read this one […]
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SQL Server 2014’s new In-Memory OLTP feature can potentially revolutionize your OLTP workloads by providing big performance increases with little or no changes to your servers or application code. Microsoft’s In-Memory OLTP delivers performance improvements of 2x to 30x depending on the application. As a brief reminder, SQL server 2014’s In-Memory OLTP works by memory-optimizing […]
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When it comes to building software, our end users are the key to what we build. Most developers and project managers will focus on the use cases are for their software. So whatever is done, it is seen from the eye of the user. Likewise, when a database professional gets deployed into a customer location, they may hear comments from […]
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A recent Information Week’s 2014 State of Enterprise Storage Survey indicates that 40% of respondents were using SSDs in disk arrays and about 39% deployed SSDs in servers, which is about 8-10 points up from the previous year. These figures clearly highlight that SSD adoption is increasing. We brought together a group of expert DBAs, geeks […]
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With every release of SQL Server, the Microsoft product team introduces new features that can improve the performance of the applications using SQL Server as the backend. The buffer pool extension is one such feature introduced in SQL Server 2014. It can help DBAs to increase the size of SQL Server memory area (a.k.a. buffer pool) and extend […]
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This is the fourth of an article series on advanced Oracle explain plan techniques (read Part 3 here). In this article, we will finish the exploration of DBMS_XPLAN format options with a focus on the ‘ALLSTATS LAST’ formatting option. In the example above, notice that the SQL text has a hint: /+* GATHER_PLAN_STATISTICS */ . I have shown this in […]
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This is the third of an article series on advanced Oracle explain plan techniques (read Part 2 here), continuing where we left off: a discussion of the Oracle DBMS_XPLAN format options. This article will illustrate the ‘ALL STATS LAST’ as well as the ‘ADVANCED’ formatting options. Notice above that the SQL text has a hint: /+* GATHER_PLAN_STATISTICS */ . I […]
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