When I was at SQL Bits this week someone was asking me about SQL Server 2016’s new stretch database features. The attendee in question was asking about backing up and restoring the production database for development purposes. In their case the development team like to work with up-to-date..
Databases with their own server level settings
Being a futurist, I like new features and SQL Server 2016 and Azure SQL Database have one that’s really caught my eye!
Clustering SQL Server 2008 R2 on Windows Server 2012 R2
I recently had to install a SQL Server 2008 R2 failover cluster on Windows Server 2012 R2. Some of you may be wondering if this is actually supported. A quick look at the hardware and software requirements for SQL Server 2008 R2 indicates that it is indeed supported.
Converging tables with PowerShell and TableDiff
If you've ever had to troubleshoot non-convergence with SQL Server Replication and not been able to initialize from a snapshot or backup, you could be left with the complex task of manually synchronising individual tables. Non-convergence is a term used to describe the differences in rows between..
One of our agents is missing
Despite Microsoft continuously adding functionality to it, the Azure SQL Database service has always been missing one key feature – SQL Server Agent. The reality is, it’s absent rather than missing. Platform as a Service capabilities are, and should be, promoting platform wide approaches to..
Helping applications learn with Azure Machine Learning
Analytics technologies have traditionally told users what had happened in the past using the data captured in transactional systems. Then, predictive analytics and machine learning began giving users forecasts for the future based on what happened in the past. Now these previously separate..
Betting against the law books
Microsoft’s recent announcement about a new format of Azure data centre in Germany suggests European organisations worry as much about the US Government accessing their data as they do hackers