SQL practises that iterate... er irritate you.
Imagine you've just gone into a new work environment and you've inherited years of somebody else's work... and they've been a bit of a lone wolf (lets be polite). You take a bit of a look around at...
View ArticleSELECT * v SELECT Columns
While retrieving data using select statement which way is faster either with * or with column names and why?
View ArticleThings to check when taking over an existing database
I am trying to compile a list of things to check when I take over a new database. What I have come up with so far is listed below. I would love my for SQL friends out there to help fill in the gaps. I...
View ArticleFormat Data using CHARINDEX or PATINDEX
How to use CHARINDEX or PATINDEX to format the data Separately. Eg. Declare @a Varchar(100) SET @a= 'CityName,StateName,CountryName' SELECT STUFF(@a,PATINDEX('%,%',@a),LEN(@a),'') Result: 'CityName'...
View ArticleOverused Procedure? Is there such a thing?
Since I thought that this was more of an opinion question, I asked this question on SSC first, but didn't get many replies. So, I thought I'd get your advice too. I like the idea of using one procedure...
View ArticleSecurity considerations for BUILTIN\Users
I have been paring down the logins and users on my database, but still have some hanging around that don't do anything as far as I can see. BUILTIN\\Users is one particular group that has no special...
View ArticleSQL Server 2008 R2 Best Practice Analyzer : problems connecting to sql
Hi all, Has anyone been able to sucessfully deploy and connect to an instance with SQL Server 2008 R2 Best Practice Analyzer ? I've installed it on the Cluster node directly (which is running windows...
View ArticleDo you really NEED business analysts, project methodology, etc.?
I work for a large government agency with a large IT department. I, however, am in another department. I've successfully self-trained to the point I am developing complex queries across different...
View ArticleSSRS Best Practice
We have SSRS set up on a separate server (HQ-WEB) than the database (HQ-APP). We are being told, by a new product vendor consultant, that Best Practice is to run SSRS on the same server for time...
View ArticleBest practice for autogrowth size.
First let me say that this is not a debate of whether to have autogrowth turned on or off. For this post we are going with it is turned on. So for those of you who use the autogrowth on option as a...
View ArticleBest practice for Table Historys and pin pointing data at a point in time
Hi there, I,ve been doing history tables for some time now in databases but never put to much effort or thought into it. I wonder what is the best practice out there. my main goal is to record any...
View ArticleAlternative for ISNUMERIC()
Is there any other Functions to check the Numeric Type values with out "$", "+", "-" and "/" ?
View ArticleValuable database checks sought for SQL Test
I'm part of a team at Red Gate that has worked in collaboration with the open source [tSQLt][1] unit testing framework developers to release a preview build of what we're calling [SQL Test][2], a SQL...
View ArticleValidating server principals with Active Directory
This is a question about methods as much as about "How To ...", I'm interested in how other SQL Server admins tally their Server Principals that are type G or U against Active Directory. Do you have...
View ArticleTwo part naming convention and performance
As far as I can tell, the SQL Server gurus out here in the interwebs seem to be in general agreement that there are performance gains to be had by using a two-part table naming convention in your SQL....
View ArticleUpdate whole record or dynamic TSQL in procedure?
I am on a new project and we are looking at having a wide table and I am wondering if anyone has done any measurement of whether it is better to have a procedure to carry out an update from the web app...
View ArticleSource Controlling Proposed Enviroment & Suggestions
Looking for advice from those who have successfully source controlled their environment. Current Enviroment: All devs in production making changes out of date dev enviroment, not really used yet Source...
View ArticleWhen are cursors appropriate?
I am normally ardently against using cursors whenever possible. However, a recent project I've been tasked with has me wondering when it is OK to break this rule. I work for a school district. There...
View ArticleWhy is it considered a best practice to avoid inline SQL?
I have seen in a number of discussions the idea that it is a best practice to avoid inline SQL. Some seem to be of the opinion that inline SQL should be absolutely forbidden. However, most places that...
View ArticleStoring numbers as CHAR where no calculation will ever happen
Hello everyone, I guess this is more of a best practice question. When you have data which contains numbers that will never be used for any aggregation should you store them as an INT or CHAR? An...
View Article