Many years ago I was given a work request that literally just said: It’s broke. Fix it. I’m sure you can see how that is supremely unhelpful. And this isn’t the only time I’ve gotten such great requests. I need full access. Please run this script. (I’ve even gotten this one without an attached script.)…
Category: General BP
The default filegroup, and why you should care.
You know you can have multiple filegroups right? You might have a separate filegroup for the data (the clustered index & heaps) and another for the indexes (non-clustered indexes). Or maybe you want to separate your data tables from the system tables. There are any number of reasons why you might want to have multiple…
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?
Necessity is the Mother of Automation
If you have worked with me or are a frequent reader of my blogs or a frequent attendee of my presentations, you know I hate doing things manually. Over my career, I have found that one of the biggest enemies of automation is being able to get someone else to do it manually. If you…
When is it a good idea to consolidate multiple instances?
In this age of cost-saving after cost-saving, one way you may be looking at saving money is by combining multiple instances into one in order to save on licensing/machine costs. Or possibly you have a new database and want to decide if it can reside on an existing instance or if you need a whole…
5 Tips for Friday: Deployments
I had some very thoughtful conversations (not lectures … really) this week about deploying changes to SQL Server databases. I want to share some of those best practice tips here with you today. Don’t rely on manual steps: As I see it, there are two reasons why manual steps are bad. Humans are imperfect, are…
Do what I say, not what I do
You’ll hear a lot of rules and best practices from senior IT people (not just data folks, all of them). You’ll also then see those same people do what they told you not to. I told you not to use NOLOCK even though I use it sometimes. I told you not to shrink databases, even…
Checklist: DR Plan Sanity Check
If a disaster struck tomorrow, are you ready for it? Are you sure you thought of everything? I cannot count the number of times something happened, and I thought that I should have been able to anticipate that. It can be a big benefit to get another viewpoint on your disaster plan. No matter how…
Coding Naked
I know the title sounds like clickbait, but it’s how I’ve felt for a long time. Why? Because of CASE tools. CASE stands for Computer-Aided Software Engineering. Here, I’m referring to data modeling tools like ErWin and ER/Studio. It disheartens me that the industry as a whole has gotten away