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

SQL Server 2014 – Delayed Transaction Durability

Prior to SQL Server 2014, SQL Server used a Write Ahead Log (WAL) mechanism which means that changes are written to the transaction log before they are committed.  The major advantage with this mechanism is that there will be no data loss . However, since IO is the slowest component, there will be a high IO contention for large writes especially if you have a low performing disk configuration for log files.

Delay Transaction Durability is introduced in SQL Server 2014 to enhance write performances, read this article for more details.