10 Business Intelligence Trends for 2016

BI analysts, industry players predict the rise of self-service, Big Data analytics, real-time data in the coming year. These are the trends for next year.

• Evolution of Self-Service BI
• More Advanced, Customizable Visualizations
• A Screen In the Hand Is Worth Two On the Desk
• The Rise Of API Deployment
• Data Is the New Water
• IoT and Real-Time Data Science
• Affordable BI For SMBs
• Mobile Analytics Stands On Its Own
• Analytics on Hadoop Will Become Reality
• Tech Giants Escalate the BI War

Read the article at http://www.kdnuggets.com/2015/12/10-business-intelligence-trends-2016.html/2

By looking at the list, real time BI and Internet of things seems to be the hot topics in year 2016.

Technorati Tags: News,Big Data,BI,Business Intelligence

Open Live Writer for Windows Live Writer

There has been issues with Windows Live Writer recently mailn it is not able to connect to the blogger account. After searching i found this thread.

Windows live writer wont connect to blogger

It says, this was due to a configuration change from the google end.

“Today we ended support for ClientLogin OAuth 1 (3LO), AuthSub, and OpenID2, and started the shutdown process. Clients attempting to use these services will begin to fail and must be migrated to OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect.”

However, There is an alternative for this tool called Open Live writer which can be downloaded at http://openlivewriter.org/.

This is my first post from Open Live Writer.   But this does not have taggings.

These are the known issues of this tool.

Known issues:

• You need to remove your old Google Blogger accounts from Open Live Writer first. After removing them, click the 'Add blog account...' button in Open Live Writer to set up your Google Blogger accounts. When setting up your new blog account, make sure to choose the ‘Google Blogger’ option on the first page. Don’t choose ‘Other’.
• Scheduling a published post may be a few hours off.
• Categories are no longer supported in the latest Blogger API v3.
• Support for authors, tags and comment policies is not enabled yet.
• Attempting to login to Google Blogger with 0 blogs will show an error message. Please create a blog on http://www.blogger.com first before using Open Live Writer.
• After logging into Google Blogger in your browser, you may need to manually close the webpage and switch back to Open Live Writer.

Big Data Still Requires Humans To Make Meaningful Connections

This is great article as many of us think that technology is everything. No matter the rich technology we have, still human interventaion is needed for meaningfull connections.

“Perhaps it’s because we put so much faith into technology to solve our problems. We have been led to believe big data is going to help businesses make smarter and more informed decisions.”

“We tend to believe that technology is the answer when it’s just a tool in the hands of humans. As anyone who has watched an episode of Law and Order can attest, you can have the DNA evidence at the scene of the crime, but the detectives still have to do the hard work of finding the person connected to that bit of data. The data is useless without the human element to connect the dots.”

Read the full article at http://techcrunch.com/2015/12/02/big-data-still-requires-humans-to-make-meaningful-connections/?utm_source=hootsuite

Technorati Tags: Big Data,Article,News

Tutorial: Data Science with SQL Server R Services

You may have heard that R and the big-data RevoScaleR package have been integrated with with SQL Server 2016 as SQL Server R Services. If you've been wanting to try out R with SQL Server but haven't been sure where to start, a new MSDN tutorial will take you through all the steps of creating a predictive model: from obtaining data for analysis, to building a statistical model, to creating a stored prodedure to make predictions from the model. To work through the tutorial, you'll need a suitable Windows server on which to install the SQL Server 2016 Community Technology Preview, and make sure you have SQL Server R Services installed. You'll also need a separate Windows machine (say a desktop or laptop) where you'll install Revolution R Open and Revolution R Enterprise. Most of the computations will be happening in SQL Server, though, so this "data science client machine" doesn't need to be as powerful.
Read more at http://blog.revolutionanalytics.com/2015/12/sql-rre-tutorial.html

Additional Controls for SSIS

COZYROC is the leading company providing advanced Microsoft SQL Server 2005-2014 Integration Services (SSIS) library of custom tasks, components and scripts for handling Zip, GZip, BZip2, Tar archives, enhanced script reuse and secure internet communications.

Details can be found at http://www.cozyroc.com/products

ETL FRAMEWORK DESIGN FOR NOSQL DATABASES IN DATAWARE HOUSING

With the development of Web 2.0 significantly semi-structured, unstructured data has been generated. Typical RDBMS are lack of scaling and inefficient of handling Big data So the NoSQL Databases have the capabilities of handling those kind of data. Even though NoSQL databases are there, RDBMS are still remaining in the industry since some of features are not yet supported by the NoSQL databases, such as ACID properties. The typical Data warehouse consists of repository of data and those are non-volatile and extracting from different heterogeneous data sources. Since the central repository of data allows make strategic decisions of an organization. ETL is the process which used in extracting data, transform data to suit to data warehouse environment and load the data to the targeted data warehouse database. There were similar researches on for extracting data from NoSQL databases. However, those have limitations such as specific only for one vendor and only extraction is considered and transformation and loading to data warehouses with ETL characteristics are not addressed. Aim of this research on NoSQL ETL will be vital since currently data warehouses are consists of structured data and this will leads to store unstructured data in data warehouse and allows making strategic decisions, data analysis on top of it.

Paper ID: v3i1105 is published in IJRCAR  volume 3 Issue 11 November 2015
Volume Link: http://www.ijrcar.com/contents/volume_3_issue_11
Paper Link: http://ijrcar.com/Volume_3_Issue_11/v3i1105.pdf

How to Avoid CXPACKETs?

CXPACKET is one of the famous wait type that database administrators are experiencing. Before moving into the details of CXPACKET wait type, - See more at: http://www.sqlshack.com/how-to-avoid-cxpackets/#sthash.lnQI7Ouh.dpuf

Eight Types of Slowly Changing Dimensions (SCDs)

We typically talks about three SCDs which are Type 1, Type 2 and Type 3. In Ralph Kimball and Margy Ross Third edition of the Data Warehouse Toolkit book, they talked about eight types of SCDs.

Time Series Algorithms in SQL Server

This is the fourth article on data mining series. The below are the previous articles in this series.

Shopping Basket Analysis in SQL Server

Using Decision Trees in SQL Server

Data Mining Cluster Analysis in SQL Server

This article focuses Time Series Algorithms which are a forecasting technique. One of the most common algorithms used in industry are time series algorithms which can be used to answer questions on the future values such sales volume for the next season, or petrol prices in winter. Most of the cases, time series algorithms are limited to prices and quantities. However, using the same theories and techniques, they have the capabilities of predicting trajectory or a moving object and next video frame.

Microsoft Readies Big Data Service That Includes New U-SQL Language

Earlier this year, Microsoft revealed plans to offer a new HDFS-compatible Hadoop File System data store that could run large analytics workloads called Azure Data Lake. So far, the technical preview hasn't appeared but the company today reiterated that the service, which it will actually call Azure Data Lake Store, will be available later this year and also announced some new services planned for its Azure-based Big Data portfolio.

More at https://redmondmag.com/blogs/the-schwartz-report/2015/09/microsoft-readies-new-big-data-services.aspx

Configuring Files for TempDB database

First article on SQL Server 2016

http://www.sql-server-performance.com/2015/configuring-files-for-tempdb-database/

PolyBase Technology, Instance Feature or Common Feature?

PolyBase is a new feature added to the SQL Server 2016. This feature includes PolyBase technology that enables truly integrated querying across Hadoop non-relational data and SQL Server relational data using standard T-SQL statements.

While installing PolyBase, it is listed under the instance feature.

However, when this feature is selected, in the next screen you will get this error screen.

This means this is not a instance feature.

24 hours of SQLPass is coming

24 hours of SQL Pass is happening on Sept 17 & 18th.  These are short little 1-hour web casts, but may be of interest to someone.  Registration is FREEEEEEEE!!!  

Link to sessions:

http://www.sqlpass.org/24hours/2015/summitpreview/Schedule.aspx

Moving Your SQL Infrastructure to Microsoft Azure

Just Another Big Business (JABB) Systems International is a fictional, 2,400-employee business with global offices. It manufactures security equipment, such as surveillance systems, alarms, bulletproof glass and cars, safes and related technologies. Its IT team of 15 is responsible for the day-to-day running of its datacenters, as well as improving the business through innovative use of technology.

https://virtualizationreview.com/articles/2015/08/01/moving-your-sql-infrastructure.aspx

SS SLUG August 2015 Meet-up

Wednesday,August,19

SS SLUG August 2015 Meet-up

• 11th Floor, DHPL Building
  No. 42 Nawam Mawatha
  Colombo 00200, Sri Lanka
  (map)
• 18:00 - 20:30 (UTC+05:30) Sri Jayawardenepura
• Language: English

We're back after a month's hiatus. We're sorry that we couldn't hold a meet-up last month. This month we've got two exciting sessions lined up for you...

Sessions:

SQL Server Full Text Search

Ravin Perera, Tech Lead Geveo Australasia

Natural text-search capabilities are a must in modern applications. As SQL Server developers, what are the technologies we can use to provide search-engine-like features in our applciations? "Lucene.Net" is very popular, but comes with a huge integration and administrative overhead. In this session we'll explore the SQL Server built-in Full-Text Search feature which allows developers to fulfill most of the common natural text search needs with zero management overhead. You can integrate natural text-serach capabilities into your databases right away!

About Ravin:
Ravin is a Microsoft certified developer and certified scrum master, who has worked on various types of projects. Connect with Ravin on LinkedIn and Facebook (https://lk.linkedin.com/pub/ravin-perera/2b/466/61b|https://www.facebook.com/ravinsp)

Data Mining: Microsoft Time Series

Dinesh Asanka, Senior Database Specialist Pearson Lanka

Continuing with his data mining series, Dinesh joins us with the Microsoft Time Series algorithm. This algorithm provides regression algorithms that are optimized for the forecasting of continuous values, such as product sales, over time. Learn how to predict trends based on the original data set and add new data to the model and automatically use this data in your analysis.

About Dinesh:
Dinesh is a SQL Server MVP and a long time database enthusiast, and has been contributing to the database community for several years through his blog, technical forums and various speaking engagements. He is also a visiting lecturer at the Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology

Dealing with an Inherited SQL Server

If you work with SQL Server you’ve most likely been there at one time or another. Maybe you’ve just started a new job, or you might be a Windows administrator who has been tasked to manage SQL Server, or you might be a consultant who has been brought in to deal with a specific problem.  The end result is that you wind up working with a SQL Server instance and one or more databases that you know nothing about.

More at http://sqlmag.com/sql-server/dealing-inherited-sql-server

SQL SERVER 2016 Data Sheet

SQL Server 2016 has multiple enhancements such as

Mission Critical Performance
Deeper Insights Across Data
Hyper scale Cloud

Below is the link to the Data sheet.
SQL Server 2016 PDF data Sheet

Microsoft's Power BI visualization service arrives July 24

Microsoft's Power BI data visualization and business intelligence service will be generally available in two weeks, marking a major milestone for the new product.

The launch will bring a smorgasbord of new features, including new chart types, a refreshed desktop application and support for collaborating in groups on shared sets of data. Power BI was first released to the public as a beta earlier this year, and is designed to provide ordinary business users with powerful tools to visualize information from diverse data sets in live-updating dashboards.

http://www.computerworld.com/article/2946688/business-intelligence/microsofts-power-bi-visualization-service-arrives-july-24.html

SQL Server 2016: Live Query Statistics

A database query times out and you don’t know why. The estimated query plan is revealing the problem, so you remove the timeout entirely. An hour later it is still running and you are no closer to getting the actual execution plan. If only there was a way to find out what is actually happening inside the server.

With Live Query Statistics in SQL Server 2016 you can now answer that question. This new feature offers the DBA a live version of the execution plan with annotations detailing which steps are currently being performed.

read more at http://www.infoq.com/news/2015/07/Live-Query-Stats

Top three third-party SQL Server security auditing tools

For most companies, SQL Server's security auditing tools aren't always enough to meet regulation requirements. The answer is third-party products.

more at http://searchsqlserver.techtarget.com/tip/Top-three-third-party-SQL-Server-security-auditing-tools

Microsoft Offers Azure SQL Data Warehouse for Limited Preview

Microsoft is cracking the door to its cloud data warehouse. The Azure SQL Data Warehouse is now ready to accept data from customers in limited use cases.

Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Microsoft's cloud-based data repository offering, is available as a limited preview, the company announced yesterday.

Read more http://www.eweek.com/cloud/microsoft-offers-azure-sql-data-warehouse-for-limited-preview.html

Ex-Microsoft chief rolls elastic-SQL challenge to Amazon Redshift

SQL Server, with Windows and Office, helped make Microsoft. The database sits in a $13bn business unit and while Microsoft’s server products grew 11 per cent – $1.7bn last year – that was driven primarily by sales of SQL Server.

The man who paved the path was Bob Muglia. A 24-year Redmond veteran, he was SQL Server’s first product manager and led the server and tools business.

That was until 2011, when he was elbowed out by ex-CEO Steve Ballmer in a disagreement over strategy for the server and tools business.

Also, the 2008 DATAllegro acquisition, to build a Netezza-like appliance, had proved to little and too late for Microsoft as the market had moved.

Read http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/06/24/snowflake_muglia_elastic_sql/

Using R to Explore Data by Analysis - for SQL Professionals

Integrating R to SQL Server is a major improvements for SQL Server 2016.

https://www.simple-talk.com/sql/reporting-services/using-r-to-explore-data-by-analysis---for-sql-professionals/?utm_source=simpletalk&utm_medium=pubemail&utm_content=rdataanalysis-20150622&utm_campaign=sql&utm_term=simpletalkmain

26 free helpful tips for SQL Server monitoring

Have you ever been caught out by a performance problem with SQL Server? Do you want to start monitoring your databases, but aren’t sure where to start? Do you need to know which problems to look for – and how to spot them?

Then this series of 26 free tips is for you - it covers every aspect of SQL Server monitoring, including CPU, IO, memory, backups, tuning, capacity planning, and common errors.

Plus, when you sign up, you get a free copy of our 30-page guide, 8 Steps to Effective SQL Server Monitoring.

And, if you're ready to start monitoring right away, grab a free trial of SQL Monitor, our web-based monitoring and alerting tool, for insights into your servers' performance right out of the box.

1. Sign up for 26 free helpful tips on SQL Server monitoring

• Free email series with 26 free tips, ideas, and articles on SQL Server performance monitoring
• Includes worked examples, practical advice, and covers the hows and whys of SQL Server monitoring
• Plus, get a free copy of Eight Steps to Effective SQL Server Monitoring when you sign up

2. Start monitoring today with a free trial of SQL Monitor for real-time monitoring and alerting

• Real-time SQL Server performance data and alerts
• Built with advice from SQL Server experts and MVPs
• See your servers' top 10 most expensive queries
• Automatically plot performance baselines
• Discover problems before anyone else notices

Sign up now and get a free copy of 8 Steps to Effective SQL Server Monitoring, a 30-page guide to the basics

SQL Server 2016: Dynamic Data Masking

Row-level security is great for all or nothing decisions, but there are times when users need access to a subset of the data. For example, the last four digits of a credit card or social security number. This can be done at the application level, but that leaves room for error. You only need to forget the mask one time to leak sensitive data.

SQL Server 2016 attempts to address this with a feature called Dynamic Data Masking. When a column is created with a mask, it defaults to returning only the data exposed through the mask. There are three types of masks currently available:

Read more at http://www.infoq.com/news/2015/06/SQL-Server-Masking

Who is a DBA

WHO IS A DBA? A database administrator (DBA) directs or performs all activities related to maintaining a successful database environment. Responsibilities include designing, implementing, and maintaining the database system; establishing policies and procedures pertaining to the management, security, maintenance, and use of the database management system. To make long story short A DBA is the backbone of  any mission critical system.

check whether the list is correct.

http://sqlindia.com/who-is-a-dba/

SQL Server 2016: Row-Level Security

A common criticism for SQL Server’s security model is that it only understands tables and columns. If you want to apply security rules on a row-by-row basis, you have to simulate it using stored procedures or table value functions, and then find a way to make sure there is no way to bypass them. With SQL Server 2016, that is no longer a problem.

Read more at http://www.infoq.com/news/2015/06/SQL-Server-Row-Level-Security

How to Load Data From PDF file in SSIS

This is the question some one asked today. I haven’t done this but I can remember I read this some where. So thought of digging this today.

Some forums are suggesting a product.

http://www.datawatch.com/monarch-is-back/

Out of the box, Datawatch Monarch can work with a wide range of report formats including PDF, XML, HTML, text, spool and ASCII files. Access data from invoices, sales reports, balance sheets, customer lists, inventory, logs and more. The system is easy to use, allowing you to quickly select a file and automatically convert it into structured data for analysis.

Following blog includes how to import several types to SQL Server.

http://sqlage.blogspot.com/2013/12/ssis-how-to-import-files-text-pdf-excel.html

Following blogspot also have lot of links

http://www.forumarray.com/ssis-data-flow-source-component-to-read-a-pdf-file-226359

Following blog is the most relevant one for me. http://sql31.blogspot.com/2013/03/how-to-load-data-from-pdf-file-in-ssis.html

This users script task and you have the option of customizing it.

SQL Server 2016: Always Encrypted

SQL Server 2016 seeks to make encryption easier via its new Always Encrypted feature. This feature offers a way to ensure that the database never sees unencrypted values without the need to rewrite the application.

Read more at http://www.infoq.com/news/2015/06/SQL-Server-Always-Encrypted

We Need Only Three Hadoops, And Maybe Three Systems

Enterprises like choices, they abhor vendor lock in, and they like the options that open source gives. But at the same time, too many choices fragments markets and doesn’t allow for the cultivation of larger vendors that can afford to take on the big problems. You need a balance between large enough to scale and so large as to be too overbearing, or sometimes, in the antitrust sense, to be abusive.

With the Hadoop Summit sponsored by Hortonworks going on this week and some tectonic changes in the systems market that have been going on for some months now, we are pondering how this all fits together given the current state of both Hadoop and the systems markets.

Read more http://www.theplatform.net/2015/06/11/we-need-only-three-hadoops-and-maybe-three-systems/

How to Use SQL Server’s Extended Events and Notifications to Proactively Resolve Performance Issues

DBAs need access to timely, detailed information in order to act, rather than information that requires further investigation. Read this paper and learn how to leverage event notifications and extended events to monitor in SQL Server, and discover how to these tools enable you to act on issues and avoid outages.

http://www.mssqltips.com/whitepaper.asp?id=34

What is Coming in SQL Server 2016 for Business Intelligence

Over the past few years we did not hear anything from Microsoft about SQL Server on-premises business intelligence enhancements. The extended cricket-chirping silence left us speculating about the future of Reporting Services, Analysis Services and other key technologies that are being used today to power critical decision making solutions. Good news, the waiting and wondering is over. Microsoft recently announced significant SQL Server on-premises upgrades in numerous presentations at both //build and Ignite conferences. Here are a few of my top take-away points from a BI professional perspective.

Read more http://sqlmag.com/blog/what-coming-sql-server-2016-business-intelligence

How to Dramatically Decrease Data Warehouse Load Times with Memory-Optimized Tables

Nice article on Memory Optimized tables in Data warehousing.
Read more at http://sqlmag.com/sql-server-integration-services/how-dramatically-decrease-data-warehouse-load-times-memory-optimized

New Couchbase Release Bridges SQL-NoSQL Database Worlds

NoSQL database vendor Couchbase has developed a SQL query language that will help developers with SQL expertise -- and there are millions of them -- build enterprise web, mobile and Internet-of-Things applications that run on the Couchbase Server. Couchbase is previewing the new N1QL (pronounced "nickel") language at its Couchbase Connect user conference in Santa Clara, Calif., this week. The company also is previewing a beta of the 4.0 release of Couchbase Server at the event.

Read more at http://www.crn.com/news/applications-os/300077012/new-couchbase-release-bridges-sql-nosql-database-worlds.htm

SQL Server 2016 : Getting tempdb a Little More Right

Aaron Bertrand has written a nice blog post about tempdb improvements in SQL Server 2016. You can read more from http://blogs.sqlsentry.com/aaronbertrand/sql-server-2016-tempdb-fixes/.

The most important feature for me is ability to configure multiple files to tempdb during the installation. Currently, you need to do this manually and restart the server which will not be required with SQL Server 2016. In the configuration it also check the number of cores and provide the guide line as well.

What is the SQL Server 2016 Query Data Store?

Query Data Store in SQL Server 2016 is intended as a service that monitors and optimizes query plans with full history of query execution. Query Data Store can help diagnose performance problems that are related to plan changes.

What it does:

1. Stores the history of query plans
2. Captures performance data for each query plan
3. Identifies the most expensive queries and earmarks those queries that have degraded or gotten slower over time
4. Gives you the ability to force old plans, should a new plan cause performance issues (almost like a system restore for Windows computers)
5. Easily fixes plan regressions
6. Analyzes workload patterns
7. De-risks SQL Server upgrades with restart and failover

Read more http://windowsitpro.com/sql-server-2016/what-sql-server-2016-query-data-store

Microsoft Virtual Labs for SQL Server 2016

If you want have experience about SQL Server 2016, Microsoft Virtual Labs provides it for you. There are seven labs up to now. https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/virtuallabs

Microsoft Releases First Public Preview of SQL Server 2016

The first public preview of Microsoft's SQL Server 2016 database is available, and testers can opt for faster, more frequent updates to it.
Microsoft is making available to anyone who wants to kick the tires a first public preview release of its coming SQL Server 2016 on-premises database.


Read more http://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-releases-first-public-preview-of-sql-server-2016/

Shopping Basket Analysis in SQL Server

A famous super market chain in USA once observed that men who are buying beer for weekend tend to buy nappies for their kids. This revelation enabled the chain in increase sales volume and revenue by placing the items in close proximity to each other. An alternative approach would have been to move the items apart to encourage store exploration.
Read how to improve your sales using shopping basket analysis.

http://www.sql-server-performance.com/2015/shopping-basket-analysis-sql-server/

Support for SQL Server 2005 Ends April 12, 2016

oduct expiration is a fact of life. And, no matter how much we love a product or no matter how long we cling to its familiar interface, we eventually have to give up on it.

Such is the case with SQL Server 2005. SQL Server 2005 is the next in a running lot of product expirations, with the end of support date being April 12, 2016.  Released 10 years ago, this version of Microsoft's database product is still in use in a huge number of implementations. So, it goes without saying that, just like we've seen with Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, some organizations will have a tough time letting go.

Read more at http://windowsitpro.com/sql-server-2005/reminder-support-sql-server-2005-ends-april-12-2016

Important Soft Skills for the Entry-Level Data Professional

Nice article about soft skills. Read more at http://sqlmag.com/database-administration/important-soft-skills-entry-level-data-professional

MSSQL Server 2016 coming with JSON Support

With over a thousand votes on the Microsoft Connect site, JSON support is the most requested feature for SQL Server 2016. This month, Microsoft announced that the upcoming release of SQL Server 2016 will fulfill that request. Sort of.

Microsoft will certainly be touting this feature as an additional reason to upgrade when the time comes. Natively supporting JSON helps bridge the gap between the desirable aspects of a NoSQL database and a relational database like SQL Server. The trouble is that with this current implementation, you're not really gaining anything over what's currently available. It's nothing like the native XML data type that became available starting with SQL Server 2005.

Read more at http://www.itworld.com/article/2925117/enterprise-software/mssql-server-2016-coming-with-json-support-not-really.html

Microsoft Releases New Version of SP1 for SQL Server 2014

The much-troubled Service Pack 1 for SQL Server 2014 has its latest revision, and allegedly resolves significant problems that made SQL stop working for numerous customers.

The service pack originally was originally released last month, but Microsoft pulled it on that same month because of an installation problem. The updated SP1 (build 12.0.4100.1) is now available at this download page, dated 5/14/2015.

More at https://virtualizationreview.com/articles/2015/05/18/microsoft-releases-new-version-of-sp1-for-sql-server-2014.aspx

How To Remove the Identity Column in SQL Server

Setting the identity property on a table when it is created is a simple task. The below snippet will create table called SampleTable with ID column which has an identity property.

Read http://www.sql-server-performance.com/2015/remove-identity-column-sql-server/

SQL Server 2016 to include R

In one of the first concrete results of Microsoft's purchase of R vendor Revolution Analytics, R will be incorporated into SQL Server 2016, according to David Smith at Revolution Analytics.

Read from http://www.computerworld.com/article/2923214/big-data/sql-server-2016-to-include-r.html

SQL Server Internals: In-Memory OLTP

Free eBook: SQL Server Internals: In-Memory OLTP

• See how the new In-memory OLTP engine works
• Learn how to use lock- and latch-free data structures to allow non-blocking data processing
• Find out how to migrate existing tables to Hekaton

http://www.red-gate.com/products/sql-development/sql-compare/entrypage/sql-server-internals?utm_source=ssc&utm_medium=publink&utm_campaign=books&utm_content=hekaton_ebook&utm_term=freeebook

Changing the SSRS Subscription Owner

When subscriptions are created, owner of that subscription will be the user who creates it. However, when that user account is disabled, subscriptions will be failed and there is no way from the user interface to change it. However these subscriptions are stored in subscriptions table of ReportServer database (default database of the SSRS. This may be different if you have changed it from the SSRS configuration manager). In the subscription table, user id is stored as a unique identifier which you should get from the users table. Update query is shown below.

USE ReportServer

GO

DECLARE @OldUserID uniqueidentifier

DECLARE @NewUserID uniqueidentifier

SELECT @OldUserID = UserID FROM dbo.Users WHERE UserName = 'DOMAIN\previous_user'

SELECT @NewUserID = UserID FROM dbo.Users WHERE UserName = 'DOMAIN \ new_user’

UPDATE dbo.Subscriptions SET OwnerID = @NewUserID WHERE OwnerID = @OldUserID

No restart is of SSRS or SQL Server services are required. Soon after you update the userids subscriptions will start to work.

Is your organization ready to virtualize SQL Server?

virtualization has become a hot topic. Michael Webster is one of the authors of Virtualizing SQL Server With VMware, which guides administrators in the steps required to virtualize the popular database application. One section of the book centers on how performance of these virtualized programs hinges on proper storage architecture.Read more at http://searchvmware.techtarget.com/feature/Is-your-organization-ready-to-virtualize-SQL-Server

SQL Server 2016 public preview coming this summer

Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, announced SQL Server 2016, an intelligent platform for a mobile first, cloud first world.  The next major release of Microsoft’s flagship database and analytics platform provides breakthrough performance for mission critical applications and deeper insights on your data across on-premises and cloud. Top capabilities for the release include: Always Encrypted - a new capability that protects data at rest and in motion, Stretch Database - new technology that lets you dynamically stretch your warm and cold transactional data to Microsoft Azure, enhancements to our industry-leading in-memory technologies for real-time analytics on top of breakthrough transactional performance and new in-database analytics with R integration.

http://blogs.technet.com/b/dataplatforminsider/archive/2015/05/04/sql-server-2016-public-preview-coming-this-summer.aspx

 

Which relational DBMS is best for your company?

There are lot of databases around you. What should I select from them. Lot of parameters you need to think. Database expert Craig S. Mullins examines the top relational database management system software to determine which best fits your organization.

Read more at http://searchdatamanagement.techtarget.com/feature/Which-relational-DBMS-is-best-for-your-company

Microsoft Introduces Azure SQL Data Warehouse

Microsoft today announced a new service in its Azure database lineup during its Build developer conference keynote today. The Azure SQL Data Warehouse, which will go into public preview in June, is meant to give businesses access to an elastic petabyte-scale, data warehouse-as-a-service offering that can scale according to their needs.

 

Read more at http://techcrunch.com/2015/04/29/microsoft-introduces-azure-sql-data-warehouse/#.rjdbv4:2K0T

Microsoft Halts SQL Server 2014 SP1 Downloads

 

A bug surfaces soon after the release of SQL Server 2014's first service pack, forcing Microsoft to temporarily disable downloads of the update.

Microsoft's attempt at squashing SQL Server 2014 bugs ran into a bug of its own.

The company released SQL Server Service Pack 1 (SP1) on the April 15 anniversary of the database software's launch. Today, Microsoft is hitting the pause button after a discovering an issue.

"The SQL SSIS team has found an issue with SP1 installation if SSIS.

http://www.eweek.com/database/microsoft-halts-sql-server-2014-sp1-downloads.html

SQL Server 2014 Service Pack 1 is now available

One year ago, Satya Nadella spoke in San Francisco to launch SQL Server 2014.  Today, Microsoft has to announced the release of SQL Server 2014 Service Pack 1 (SP1). The Service Pack is available for download on the Microsoft Download Center. As part of our continued commitment to software excellence for their customers, this upgrade is available to all customers with existing SQL Server 2014 deployments.

Read more at http://blogs.technet.com/b/dataplatforminsider/archive/2015/04/15/sql-server-2014-service-pack-1-is-now-available.aspx

The World According to DBAs

Database administrators (DBAs) are at the frontline of data management in most enterprises, identifying and often choosing to adopt new technologies. According to a new survey of DBAs, "While Hadoop and NoSQL are exciting new technologies," primarily large companies use them now and they "do not factor into many companies' plans over the next few years." Furthermore, traditional database management systems remain the foundation for information management infrastructure in most organizations, with Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server the dominant platforms for supporting mission-critical data. To examine the database infrastructure, understand the roles of DBAs today and how their roles are changing, Dell commissioned Unisphere Research, a division of Information Today, to survey database administrators and others charged with managing corporate data. There were 300 respondents from a wide range of companies representing a dozen industries. Two-thirds came from organizations with more than 1,000 employees. One-quarter of respondents' organizations run more than 500 databases. - See more at: http://www.cioinsight.com/it-strategy/big-data/slideshows/the-world-according-to-dbas.html#sthash.9u6JjSqn.dpuf

Microsoft Announces GA of Azure DocumentDB Managed NoSQL Document Database Service

Microsoft has announced that the Azure DocumentDB database service is now generally available offering a fully managed NoSQL document database service that allows applications to query and process JSON data at scale. Microsoft has also released a new open source data migration tool to facilitate the movement of existing data from other database systems to DocumentDB.

https://appdevelopermagazine.com/2650/2015/4/15/Microsoft-Announces-GA-of-Azure-DocumentDB-Managed-NoSQL-Document-Database-Service/

Microsoft To Kill SQL Server 2005 Support in 2016

Organizations running SQL Server 2005 will be cut off when it comes to official support next year, Microsoft announced this week.

http://mcpmag.com/articles/2015/04/15/sql-server-2005-support.aspx

A Big Deal for Big Data? Microsoft, R and You

Microsoft announced at the end of last month that it was acquiring Revolution Analytics, a commercial provider of software and services for the open source R programming language. R is focused on statistical computing and predictive analytics, which will be key to enabling Microsoft to offer customers the kinds of tools they need to make sense of big data.

More at http://sqlmag.com/sql-server/big-deal-big-data-microsoft-r-and-you

Microsoft reveals new version of cloud-based Azure SQL database service

The new version of Azure SQL is faster, handles more data than ever, and comes with new capabilities that further reduce the gap between the cloud-based Azure SQL Database and on-premise SQL Server.

Read more at http://www.fiercecio.com/story/microsoft-reveals-new-version-cloud-based-azure-sql-database-service/2015-02-03

Why big data matters to every business

Almost five years ago, Google’s Eric Schmidt announced that we had reached the point where more data was being created every two days, than in all of human history, up until 2003.

Read at http://www.hiscox.co.uk/business-blog/bernard-marr-column-big-data-matters-every-business/

SQL Server String Functions Cheat Sheet

SqlBak.com presents you a free SQL Server String Functions Cheat Sheet.

http://sqlbak.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/TSQL-STRING-FUNCTIONS-CHEAT-SHEET.pdf

SQL Server 2014 Security Enhancements : User Object Permissions

In many database systems, it is a requirement to grant read permission for all databases. To achieve this, there is no other way but grant read permission to each and every database. Read more http://www.sql-server-performance.com/2015/sql-server-2014-security-enhancements-user-object-permissions/

Big Data with the Microsoft Analytics Platform System

Want a broad-level technical look at Microsoft Analytics Platform System (APS), the high-performance and scalable solution built for modern data warehousing needs? If you're looking to improve your data loading and query response times (up to and beyond 100x over legacy solutions), get the details on this massively parallel processing appliance.
Experts highlight the hardware architecture and the software, and they walk you through an end-to-end demo of the appliance's power. They show you the Big Data capabilities in APS, with the included PolyBase, which can perform standard SQL queries to access and join Hadoop data with relational data. If you're working with real-time data analytics, you won't want to miss this course!

http://www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com/training-courses/big-data-with-the-microsoft-analytics-platform-system

SQL Server Sri Lanka User Group - January 2015 Meet-up

Welcome to a new year of data goodness!

To start of this year, we have a distinguished personality in the data space in Sri Lanka, along with a SQL Server MVP speaking on a couple of interesting topics at the January meet-up.

See attached image for details, and ssslug.sqlpass.org for more.
(Also, it's not required, but it would be great to hear if you would be participating: Click here to confirm)

SS SLUG January 2015 Meet-up