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Fix SQL Server with one click
Tempting headline, isn’t it? It might even seem like clickbait, but that’s not the intention. The SQL Server default configuration is not recommended for production environments, and yet I have worked on many production environments that have been set up by people who don’t know that the default configurations are not recommended. These same people[…]
Changes to the SQL Server servicing model (Cumulative Updates)
On Monday of this week, Microsoft announced changes to the servicing model for SQL Server, starting with SQL Server 2017. From today onward, we can expect to see the following during the first five years after release (known as Mainstream Support): One Cumulative Update per month for the first twelve months. One Cumulative Update every[…]
What is a DBA anyway?
Some time ago we started a new series here, called Database Fundamentals. The very first post in that series asked what a database is. One of the major announcements at Ignite last month was that of SQL Server 2019 preview and major improvements to Azure SQL Database, Microsoft’s on-premises and cloud-based relational database systems, respectively.[…]
Azure means hybrid now
On Monday 24 September 2018, Microsoft announced a slew of stuff at their annual Ignite conference that is going to make life a lot more interesting for many people all over the world. There’s a lot to process, so I’m going to take my time to pick through the announcements over the next few weeks.[…]
Public Service Announcement: check your backup notifications
The Azure cloud platform lost a data centre for a number of hours recently due to inclement weather. This affected many customers — including Microsoft’s own services — for almost an entire day. Given that the cloud is ostensibly designed to mitigate downtime by way of distributing workloads across multiple redundant systems, this could have[…]
Bulk insert issue with UTF-8 fixed-width file format
Fellow Canadian Doran Douglas brought this issue to my attention recently, and I wanted to share it with you as well. Let’s say you have a file in UTF-8 format. What this means is that some of the characters will be single-byte, and some may be more than that. Where this becomes problematic is that[…]
Dates and Times in SQL Server: AT TIME ZONE
Continuing the series on dates and times in SQL Server and Azure SQL Database, this week we look at the hint AT TIME ZONE. In Azure SQL Database, the regional settings of the database are set to UTC by default. It is also advisable to store dates and times in UTC format on our on-premises[…]
Repair Visual Studio for Mac: Extension node not found in path
A few months ago I ran into a problem after updating Visual Studio for Mac, where it would not start. The actual error message (which I retrieved from a log file) said: Extension node not found in path: /MonoDevelop/Core/WebCredentialProviders Knowing what I know about complex software, it was unlikely that reinstalling Visual Studio would do[…]
A software architect replaces a relational database with a relational database
Content warning: This is the second (and final) rebuttal essay about why someone is wrong on the Internet. It is no doubt biased. It might go into technical detail. Parts of it may be wrong. It may contain flippant remarks and editorialising. There are links to external references that may distract the reader. Last time,[…]
Relational databases aren’t the problem
Content warning: This is the first of two rebuttal essays, about why someone is wrong on the Internet. It is no doubt biased. It might go into technical detail. Parts of it may be wrong. It may contain flippant remarks and editorialising. There are links to external references that may distract the reader. I am[…]