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Featured Article(s)
Tips for using SQL Server 2005 indexed views
Here you can find some useful tips to use SQL Server 2005 indexed views.
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SSIS Accelerator Series: Working with SSIS Expressions
Whether you’ve been involved with SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) for years or are just learning SSIS, you’ve probably… (read more)
SelecTViews Show
On the show this week, hear from Kevin Kline and TJay Belt. Talking buy vs. build, consolidation lessons learned, the cloud, security and many other great tips.
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Previous shows, available now:
[Watch Now] Craig Utley and Jason Strate on SelecTViews.
[Watch Now] Donald Farmer and Buck Woody on SelecTViews.
Did You Know?
If you’re looking for a great look into how your indexes are performing on your SQL Server 2005/8 system, you can use the Dynamic Management View (DMV), sys.dm_db_index_physical_stats. The view will show you all sorts of information on your indexes, including fragmentation and more. Give it a try – here’s the command to check all indexes in the current database:
select * from sys.dm_db_index_physical_stats(NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL)
The (NULL…) business is about indicating what indexes, database, etc. you want to check. Take a look in Books Online for more information.
SQL Safe 6.0 Beta – Win A Netbook!
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Reporting, Reporting, Reporting… Clearly In Your Future…
It’s become very clear that reporting, and integration of the systems that support it (SharePoint, Reporting Services, SSAS, etc.) are very much a direction that needs some attention as you plan what gets your attention. This makes sense, it provides huge payoff for the company and is being pushed hard in the coming space of "BI for the masses." Here are a few more thoughts about this:
Ken: "Well you hit it right on the nose. Sharepoint is one of our largest endevours these days and has only signs of increasing. The worst part is theres doesn’t seem to be the tell all bible book out yet that includes Performance Point Server, most likely because Microsoft is eliminating it into Excel 2010 and other parts of server operations. Anyways, one good door opens another one and it keeps getting away from us then we real it back into place. For sure a powerful tool that needs some more documentation and attention thou, maybe SSWUG can run a series on Performance Point Server… That would be awesome to see"
Donald: "Because we are a small IT team – we tend to wear more than one “hat” anyways – so for us – jumping from a DBA role into an application support role or a reporting role – can be something we do a few times daily.
We have seen an increase in reporting, over the last year the reporting needs have increated by about 75% . We now have replicated SQL databases to handle the reporting needs and our Oracle database will be replicated by the end of this year for the same reason. The number of reports being run and the amount of data as well as how complex they are – really hammer a production servers.
Any DBA on our team – has to know the data – now just how a database works and how to keep it working well. We have to know the tables and what data they have and how the data is stored, it is date or date and time for example. We need to have a full understanding of all the interfaces between the applications, when does application X send data to application Y and the Y database get updated. Plus, what audits are in place to make sure if some one changes something and a report comes out different, that we can show why it’s different."