Some time ago, I wrote an article for SQL Server 2008 to help determine the use of the server since SQL Server 2008 was reaching End Of Life. In that article, I shared a reasonable use of server side trace to capture all of the logon events to the server. Afterall, you have to find…
Month: April 2020
These five SQL tools are essential for 2020
The tech world is just beginning to adapt to the “new normal”. Businesses are working through the hurdles of remote work environments. We’re all passing around remote working tips on desks, work hours, and hot beverages. That’s good stuff, but you’re going to need more than a good ergonomic chair
Three big reasons T-SQL still beats the GUI
The SQL Server Management Studio makes a lot of operations very simple. Creating a database takes three clicks. A new login is a minimum of two clicks. So why is it that we at MinionWare still write T-SQL over 90% of the time, instead of using the GUI?
Audit Database Offline Events
Knowing when an event occurred within the database environment is a very important thing. Being able to act quickly when certain events occur is equally as important. Sometimes, we may not find out about an event for a few days or weeks and then we are asked to figure out the who, when, why and…
Blogging and coding best practices
I had a discussion a while back, I think it was with Grant Fritchey (b/t) but I just can’t remember. And it wasn’t really a discussion, it was reading a blog and passing back and forth a couple of comments. Regardless. What we talked about was using best practices when coding. Not using *, formatting,…
Debugging techniques (focusing on T-SQL)
tl;dr; Add PRINT and/or SELECT statements. Comment/uncomment out pieces of code to isolate problems. Change INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE statements to SELECTs. Disclaimer: These are techniques I use all the time. There are almost certainly others. Use what you find works best for you. Debugging stored procedures, functions, even views is something I end up doing quite a…