SQL Server Diaries

Last week we implemented a database for which the developer didn’t have the CREATE TRIGGER scripts.  Unfortunately this is quite a frequent occurance and happens when database code (and objects) are implemented directly into a database and an assumption is made that the code is safely stored in the database/... [Read More]

We recently virtualized a server whose hardware was so dated it would probably have been cheaper to buy a new server than to maintain it. After verifying that it was a good candidate for virtualization, we scheduled a downtime and our virtualization experts converted the physical machine. [Read More]

Linked Servers are easy to set up in all versions of SQL Server.  Using a Linked Server one can connect to databases on the same SQL Server instance, on other instances, other DBMSs such as Oracle, MySQL, Informix and using the appropriate driver (e.g. OLEDB, ODBC, etc.), even Microsoft Access or... [Read More]

This is somewhat of a reminder for SQL Server installations. In a Technet article titled Storage Top 10 Best Practices (published in 2006), Microsoft recomend that, in the case of the TEMPBD database, the number of files is equivalent to the number of CPU’s. The below script is an example... [Read More]

I was recently asked why, when an application was saving datetime values sometimes the actual value stored is different than the one sent to the database.  After investigating the issue I discovered that the programmers were relying on the local/client machine’s Regional Settings to display dates to the end user... [Read More]