10 Most Popular Posts
Microsoft vs Teradata
Abstract from SSIS Junkie (Indexed 2007-05-07):
There's a very good objective article on el reg today that compares the Microsoft and Teradata schools of thinking for providing BI.
Read it here: http://www.regdeveloper.co.uk/2007/05/07/microsoft_vs_teradata/
The author doesn't really make any conclusions but its useful as a high-level comparison of the two approaches. It distils the BI problem into 5 easily understandable bullet points which I won't relay here - if you're interested, go and read it.
<...(truncated)...Working with unambiguous dates
Abstract from SSIS Junkie (Indexed 2007-06-15):
I read with interest Matt Masson's latest blog entry "Optional date parameter". Its a useful technique and thus well worth adding to your SSIS armoury.
It did raise a wider issue though. For demo purposes Matt was using a date of "12/30/1899". Now some people, typically those in North America, would interpret that as 30th December, 1899 whereas others (including myself) would interpret it as the 12th day of a non existent 30th month in the year 1899. See the problem?
A...(truncated)...
Microsoft purchases Stratature
Abstract from SSIS Junkie (Indexed 2007-06-07):
Microsoft have purchased Stratature, a provider of Master Data Management (MDM) solutions.
Here's some extra info for you:
- Stratature visited a Conchango community day approximately a year ago and it was clear then that their solution was heavily reliant on Microsoft technologies. Their core offering, +EDM, operates on a SQL Server back-end and is built using ASP.Net.
- Microsoft have been looking to enter the MDM arena for some time and former SQL Server stalwarts...(truncated)...
Live Folders cometh!
Abstract from SSIS Junkie (Indexed 2007-07-01):
For those of you that don't read the same RSS feeds as me, Live Folders is now available as a limited beta to the first 5000 people to apply. This means that 5000 people can upload files but anyone in the world can download the public-facing ones. Luckily for me I managed to get in as one of the 5000 and my first use of it has been to make available the video from my blog entry "Consuming Web Services in SSIS 2008" from a couple of weeks ago. Here's a screenshot of that publicly avail...(truncated)...
Averages, ratios, division by zero and NON_EMPTY_BEHAVIOR
Abstract from Microsoft OLAP by Mosha Pasumansky (Indexed 2007-03-08):
How to get averages and other ratio based MDX calculations demonstrate great performance ? I thought I covered this subject in great depth before, but I probably wasn't concise enough. Last week I was asked to help with performance to very big and important customer (who shall remain unnamed). When I arrived on site, I found the project staff to be very knowledgeable about Analysis Services and MDX. Themodel was designed following all the best practices, they have studied the Performance Guid...(truncated)...
Analysis Services 2005 Performance Guide is live
Abstract from Microsoft OLAP by Mosha Pasumansky (Indexed 2007-01-31):
Finally, after many iterations, discussions, heating debates, editings, reviews etc - it is finally done. Analysis Services 2005 Performance Guide, sporting 121 pages in the dense Word document is officially published today. The Performance Guide for AS2000 proved to be very popular and useful resource. With so many important changes in Analysis Services 2005, and with adoption numbers much bigger than AS2000 ever saw - the similar guide for 2005 version was badly needed. Well, the wait is ov...(truncated)...
SSIS: Internal testing pre-CTP
Abstract from SSIS Junkie (Indexed 2007-06-01):
For all you SSIS-affectionadoes out there I want to point out this blog entry from Matt Masson. Matt works on the SSIS product team and this is an interesting insight into how they are going about prepping the product for katmai.
My SSIS blog entries have been a bit thin on the ground lately but rest assured I will be getting back down to some serious blogging pretty soon. The first public CTP of katmai will herald a crecsendo of posts from the SQL Server community and I have got a coup...(truncated)...
Serializable vs. Snapshot Isolation Level
Abstract from Craig Freedmans WebLog (Indexed 2007-05-16):
Both the serializable and snapshot isolation levels provide a read consistent view of the database to all transactions. In either of these isolation levels, a transaction can only read data that has been committed. Moreover, a transaction can read the same data multiple times without ever observing any concurrent transactions making changes to this data. The unexpected read committed and repeatable read results that I demonstrated in my prior few posts are not possible in serializable or s...(truncated)...
Read Committed Isolation Level
Abstract from Craig Freedmans WebLog (Indexed 2007-04-25):
SQL Server 2000 supports four different isolation levels: read uncommitted (or nolock), read committed, repeatable read, and serializable. SQL Server 2005 adds two new isolation levels: read committed snapshot and snapshot. These isolation levels determine what locks SQL Server takes when accessing data and, therefore, by extension they determine the level of concurrency and consistency that statements and transactions experience. All of these isolation levels are described in Books Online...(truncated)...
Who said the SSIS team don't listen to feedback?
Abstract from SSIS Junkie (Indexed 2007-07-06):
Over the past few years I've been fairly vocal (though usually not on this site) in criticising the SSIS team for their overall lack of feedback to SSIS items submitted through Connect - that's not an easy thing to do either given that I've gotten to know some of the team in reality rather than virtually. Well, if I'm going to be negatively critical then its only fair to give them credit where credit is due as well.
A couple of weeks ago I posted a request for new functi...(truncated)...
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