Author: Basit A. Masood-Al-Farooq In this first part of the two part article series, we will first explore the various SQL Server patch types. Next, we will explore the different options we have to patch SQL Server. Types of patches available for SQL Server The following are the main types of patches available for SQL Server: Service Packs A service...
Author: Basit Aalishan Masood-Al-Farooq
Overview of SQL Server Database Recovery Models and Backup Types
Overview of SQL Server database recovery models and backup types Whether caused by hardware failure, software errors or malicious actions, there is always a possibility of data loss. Your best protection against data loss is to avoid problems. You must check user access permissions on a regular basis to make sure you do not give users more access than they...
SQL Server Development and Deployment Standards
SQL Server Development and Deployment Standards The purpose of this article is to highlight a set of standards for the development and deployment of database code. This will allow best practices to be complied with, standards to be maintained and ownership to be traced. It will also mean that developers and DBAs alike can share common practices that will assist...
Hardening SQL Server Installation
Hardening SQL Server Installation SQL Server is a repository of sensitive information for organizations, and that is why, it is important to ensure that only authorized users have access to this sensitive information. However, securing SQL Server in a way that is not likely to errors is not an easy task, and as database administrators (DBAs), we have to perform […]
The SQL Server Storage Engine Architecture
The SQL Server storage engine architecture SQL Server maps the database over a set of operating system files that store database objects, tables, and indexes. Physically, a SQL Server database is a set of two or more operating system files. Each database file has two names, that is, logical file name and physical file name. The logical file name is […]
Guidelines for Scaling your Reporting solution
Guidelines for Scaling your Reporting solution Author: Basit A. Farooq You will not always find it practical to conduct your own performance tests on a new configuration before you deploy it. When this happens, you should use monitoring to establish baseline performance measures on your existing system. You should then repeat the monitoring with the new configuration to assess the […]
Configuring and Administering Windows Azure SQL Database– Part 2
Configuring and Administering Windows Azure SQL Database– Part 2 Author: Basit A. Farooq Working with Windows Azure SQL Database We can use SQL Server Management Studio to perform administration, maintenance and development tasks for Windows Azure SQL Database server. SQL Server Management Studio provides us with a great user interface for the management of SQL Server. However, these management and […]
Configuring and Administering Windows Azure SQL database – Part 1
Configuring and Administering Windows Azure SQL database – Part 1 Author: Basit A. Farooq Microsoft Windows Azure SQL database or simply Azure SQL database is a cloud-based relational database platform that is based on Microsoft SQL Server technologies. Azure SQL database runs a special version of Microsoft SQL Server that provides the subset of SQL Server functionality as its core […]
Encrypting sensitive within databases using SQL Server 2016 AlwaysEncrypted feature
Encrypting sensitive within databases using SQL Server 2016 AlwaysEncrypted feature Author: Basit A. Farooq With the increasing number of incidents of lost and unauthorized exposure to sensitive data, database security is a vital and growing concern for many enterprises. Publicly owned enterprises that hold sensitive data such as social security numbers or credit card numbers in their databases should encrypt […]
Partitioning relational and multidimensional data for OLAP solution (Part 1)
Partitioning relational and multidimensional data for OLAP solution – (Part – 1) The design of the relational database and all multidimensional structures will help to determine the performance of your overall solution. First introduced in SQL Server 2005, SQL Server partitioned tables features allow you to partition data in a table across multiple filegroups. Most often, the partitioning is used […]