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What is so Bad About EAV, Anyway? I see a lot of people trash-talking the EAV (entity-attribute-value) model. Basically this is the situation where instead of storing the properties of an entity in a single row, you store it as a set of name-value pairs in multiple rows. read more... PASS Update #19 (SQL Server Standard) In a recent blog post Brent Ozar questioned why PASS decided to relaunch the SQL Server Standard given the failure of other content related projects. A good question, so I’ll devote this update to answering that question as best I can and talking about our plans moving forward. read more... Using Filtered Statistics with Partitioned Tables SQLCAT team case study of using filtered statistics with partitioned tables. read more... Fragmentation and Forwarded Records in a Heap I received an email a few weeks ago regarding using ALTER TABLE to defrag a heap, and my immediate thought was that it did no such thing, because by definition, a heap cannot be fragmented. SQL Server defrag operation is only concerned with logical fragmentation, which occurs when the logical and physical order do not match. read more... The Benefits of Attending PASS Realized! A lot of conversation this year occurred regarding return on investment (ROI) justifications tending the PASS Summit. Lets face it, the economy has been tough on a lot of businesses and the idea of spending a few thousand dollars on conference admission, flights and hotels was a harder sell for some people. I know a lot of people who attended the Summit on their own dime, myself included. However, as a testament to the value of attending this conference the very first session I attended, diagnosed and provided information for a problem that has existed in one of my servers for many weeks but was impossible to diagnose unless you knew what you were looking at. read more... Speaking Style and Comfort I have been speaking in front of others for most of my life. And it has never been a comfortable feeling for me. Oh, sure, there are some days when it is easier than others. Over time I have learned a few tips and tricks that help me get through any talk. But there was a period of time, about seven years, where I did not do much speaking at all. It is only recently that I started speaking in front of groups again as I prepared presentations for user groups and conferences. read more... Merge Replication vs. Sync Services for SQL Server Compact Edition SQL Server Compact supports predominantly two different sync technologies. “Merge replication” and “Sync Services”. Users might be using one or the other, and interested in knowing the differences between the two technologies, from a use-case point of view. Still, there might be others interested in knowing, which technology better suites their need, by comparing and choosing the right one. read more... How It Works: Controlling SQL Server Memory Dumps I just completed a lengthy bit of research and thought I would share it with everyone. There are several trace flags and registry keys outlined in this post. read more... Cumulative Update #8 for SQL Server 2008 RTM Available Keep your system up to date with the most recent cumulative update package for SQL Server 2008 RTM. This package contains all of the SQL Server 2008 hotfixes that have been released since the initial release of SQL Server 2008 RTM. read more... SQL Server MVP Deep Dive Well... it's finally been released and last week was the book launch. This book came together first as a goal by Paul Nielsen who was motivated by Steve Ballmer's request that MVPs "give back" even more and even outside of the direct technical community. Paul had the idea of a book - written for charity - and contributed to by MVPs. Well, here it is! read more... Understanding Table Hints with Examples Today we have a very interesting subject to look at. I tried to look for help online but have not found any other documentation besides what we have from the Book Online. Let us try to understand what are the different kinds of hints available in SQL Server and how they are helpful. read more... Will IT Pros Walk Out the Door en Masse? IT professionals asked to do more work for less pay and fewer benefits might be able to forgive their employers' financial choices, but industry watchers say high-tech workers won't soon forget being treated poorly during the most recent economic recession and will look to find other employment opportunities as soon as the recovery gets under way. read more... Lock Logging and Fast Recovery One of the things I love teaching is how the transaction log and logging/recovery work. I presented a session on this at both PASS and SQL Connections in the last two weeks, and in both sessions I promised to write some blog posts about the deep internals of logging operations. This is the first one in the series. read more... Using SQL Server Management Studio R2 with SQL Azure Learn the basics of how to access SQL Azure with SQL Server Management Studio R2. read more... Phishing Scams Edge Into Social Networks If you're always on Facebook or Twitter and keep up with the latest funny videos, you may want to think twice before clicking on the next link, image, or video that a friend forwards to you. read more... Guarding Against Database Anti-forensics Database hacking has gone mainstream and is becoming harder to detect because of the increasingly sophisticated anti-forensic procedures hackers use to cover their tracks. read more... IT Salary Survey 2009 Computerworld's 2009 IT salary survey. Find out how much you are worth. read more... Using Perfmon with SQL Server – Part One Buck Woody begins a multi-part series on using Performance Monitor with SQL Server. read more... Guide to the Data Development Platform for .NET Developers This whitepaper covers all facets of the .NET data development platform. This includes not only client-side and service-based APIs but also .NET APIs for programming at a server level inside the SQL Server 2008 database and for developing and testing a SQL Server database application. It also includes information on future directions of the .NET and SQL Server development platform. read more... Scientists Create the First Programmable Quantum Processor Scientists have developed a number of quantum computing systems that use ions or electrons as bits of data; mathematical "operations" can be performed on them with beams of light or electrical pulses. read more...