Webinar on Database development best practices

Guys,

There is a webinar today on Database development Best Practices.

Developing and maintaining databases is a lot of work. Luckily, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time you start a new database. There are a number of best practices for designing, building and deploying databases that you can put to work within your environment. This session will introduce best practices and mechanisms focused on helping you develop and maintain your systems in an easier way. We’re also going to show you some Red Gate tools that can make you even more efficient in getting your work done.

Speakers:

Grant Fritchey is the Product Evangelist for Red Gate Software and a very scary DBA.

Jeremy Kadlec is the CTO @ Edgewood Solutions, co-founder of MSSQLTips.com and a SQL Server MVP.

Click here to register.

Happy Learning

Sudhir

Inside SQL Server Optimizer Book

Guys,

Here is another book from Redgate, Inside SQL Server optimizer by Benjamin Nevarez.

Here's a quick overview of what the book covers:

• Chapter 1, Execution Engine, Introduction to Query Optimization, starts with an overview on how the SQL Server Query Optimizer works, and introduces the concepts that will be covered in more detail in the rest of the book. A look into some of the challenges query optimizers still face today is covered next, along with a section on how to read and understand execution plans. The chapter closes with a discussion of join ordering, traditionally one of the most complex problems in query optimization.
• Chapter 2 talks about the Execution Engine, describing it as a collection of physical operators that perform the functions of the query processor. It emphasizes how these operations, implemented by the Execution Engine, define the choices available to the Query Optimizer when building execution plans. This chapter includes sections on data access operations, the concepts of sorting and hashing, aggregations, and joins, to conclude with a brief introduction to parallelism.
• Chapter 3, Statistics and Cost Estimation, shows how the quality of the execution plans generated by the Query Optimizer is directly related to the accuracy of its cardinality and cost estimations. The chapter describes Statistics objects in detail, and includes some sections on how statistics are created and maintained, as well as how they are used by the Query Optimizer. We'll also take a look at how to detect cardinality estimation errors, which may cause the Query Optimizer to choose inefficient plans, together with some recommendations on how to avoid and fix these problems. Just to round off the subject, the chapter ends with an introduction to cost estimation.
• Chapter 4, Index Selection, shows how SQL Server can speed up your queries and dramatically improve the performance of your applications, just by using the right indexes. The chapter shows how SQL Server selects indexes, how you can provide better indexes, and how you can verify your execution plans to make sure these indexes are correctly used. We'll talk about the Database Engine Tuning Advisor and the Missing Indexes feature, which will show how the Query Optimizer itself can provide you with index tuning recommendations.
• Chapter 5, The Optimization Process, goes right into the internals of the Query Optimizer and introduces the steps that it performs without you ever knowing. This covers everything, from the moment a query is submitted to SQL Server, until an execution plan is generated and ready to be executed, including steps like parsing, binding, simplification, trivial plan, and full optimization. Important components which are part of the Query Optimizer architecture, such as transformation rules and the memo structure, are also introduced.
• Chapter 6, Additional Topics, includes a variety of subjects, starting with the basics of update operations, and how they also need to be optimized just like any other query, so that they can be performed as quickly as possible. We'll have an introduction to Data Warehousing and how SQL Server optimizes star queries, before launching into a detailed explanation of parameter sniffing, along with some recommendations on how to avoid some problems presented by this behavior. Continuing with the topic of parameters, the chapter concludes by discussing auto-parameterization and forced parameterization.
• Chapter 7, hints, and warns that, although hints are a powerful tool which allow you to take explicit control over the execution plan of a query, they need to be used with caution, and only as a last resort when no other option is available. The chapter covers the most used hints, and ends with a couple of sections on plan guides and the USE PLAN query hint.

Its a very good book to understand a lot of features to enhance performance & also get a hands on what's happening in background.

Click here to download this book.

Happy Learning

Sudhir

Microsoft's Virtual Tech Days 2011 from 14-16th DEC

Guys,

Microsoft is coming up with Virtual Tech Days from 14-16th Dec 2011.

Welcome to the next edition of the Virtual Tech Days event scheduled in the mid of December, we are very excited about the event and we are currently working out a highly interactive agenda where you will learn about future technologies from Microsoft and deep dive sessions across our platforms and solutions. There will be dedicated tracks for Developers, IT Pros and Architects in this edition of VTD. Stay tuned to this page to see the schedule and agenda coming up over the next few weeks

The focus will be on 3 tracks, Developer, IT Professionals & Architects. For Developers stress will be given on development technologies. For IT Professionals the focus will be on Administration, Sharepoint, Database etc.

Agenda for Architects is not yet published.

Click here to view Agenda. Note: Its different for each day.

Click here to Register for the event.

If you wish to view existing videos / presentations from old Virtual days then click here.

Happy Learning

Sudhir

.Net, C#, C++ requirements for Mumbai (Credit Suisse) Bank

Guys,


My company Credit Suisse (department) is hiring people in Mumbai.

Here are details of the requirements and there are multiple positions:

• .NET C# (4 - 7 years experience) with Winforms or WCF/WPF 
• .NET C# (2 - 5 years experience) with experience working with 1 database technology (Sybase, SQL, Oracle) 
• C++ (4 - 7 years experience) with strong Perl  

If interested then send your CV to me at sudhir.chawla@credit-suisse.com. Or for more information call me at +91-9920368156.

 

All the best.

Sudhir

Stored Procedure Vs Function in SQL Server

Guys,

Let's discuss some points about Stored Procedure & Functions in SQL Server.


Although both functions and sp's are prcomiled sql statements there exists some differences between them.

1. Functions must return a value(scalar,inline table or multi statement table) whereas stored proc may or may not return a value.


2.Functions can return a table whereas stored procs can create a table but can't return table.


3. Stored procs can be called independently using exec keyword whereas function are called using select statements.


4. Stored procs can be used to change server configuration(in terms of security-i.e. setting granular permissions of user rights) whereas function can't be used for this


5. XML and output parameters can't be passed to functions whereas it can be with sp's.


6.transaction related statement can be handled in sp whereas it can't be in function.


7. stored procedures can call a funtion or another stored proc similarly a function can call another function and a stored proc. The catch with function is that no user defined stored proc can be called. Only extended/system defined procs can be called.


8. We can have extended stored procedures but not extended functions.


9. A function can be used in a Join whereas Stored proc can't be used in a Join.

Hope this is helpful.


Sudhir Chawla