Problems displaying this newsletter? View online.
SQL Server Central
Featured Contents
Question of the Day
The Voice of the DBA
 

Daily Coping Tip

Look for the good in others and notice their strengths

I also have a thread at SQLServerCentral dealing with coping mechanisms and resources. Feel free to participate.

 

For many of you out there working in a new way, I'm including a thought of the day on how to cope in this challenging time from The Action for Happiness Coping Calendar. My items will be on my blog, feel free to share yours.

The Next Data Decade

There are lots of predictions that people make at the start of every year. I've written quite a few over the years, but in 2020 I decided not to make any. After all, there are plenty of other people making them. One person that did make some was Jeff Clarke, COO of Dell. He wrote a blog called Paving the way for the Next Data Decade, which I thought was worth a read. Now that we're almost 4 months into the new decade, and dealing with a pandemic, I wanted to look back at his thoughts.

His first prediction is for 2020, where the glut of data and systems is confusing and unmanageable in many cases. Mr. Clarke thinks that CIOs will want to make data visibility a priority and perhaps simplify things. I do think many organizations want to simplify their data platforms and better understand and use what they have. I think many would like to decommission or abandon systems that aren't valuable. I think it's also very hard to do this.

I do see companies starting to try and standardize their development practices, not allowing every group to work in a different manner. Many want to use the same VCS, build tools, dev tools, and more. While some try to standardize on a database, most end up trying to just limit the number that are in use.

To that end, I also more companies not only using the cloud and hybrid infrastructure, I see many of them wanting to be in two clouds to ensure they aren't overly dependent on one vendor. I even see some regulatory authorities requiring this of large enterprises. Mr. Clarke's second thought is that companies will demand more of cloud vendors. I think they will, though vendor enhancements and offerings often drive us in the direction they move. Certainly security and data protection needs to improve, and it is. Maybe not enough, but more vendors are thinking compliance and security are important.

The third item is disconcerting, especially in the midst of a pandemic. Organizations worry about resources, and especially the OpEx/CapEx numbers. Many want flexible options, which is true of vendors. Some will contract for reserved capacity, maybe more now with everyone doing more in the cloud, but many want the flexibility to abandon those resources that aren't well utilized. I truly worry this might extend beyond compute resources to staff as well. This might be a time when it's important you show a lot of value to whoever pays you.

Other predictions are the edge, IoT, and intelligence in our devices and data systems will grow. That's easy to see, though in some sense it's expected. It's hyped, managers try it, and even if it doesn't appear to work, they may blame the workers more than the technology. I expect it will be years before we really know how valuable AI/ML is, but we'll keep trying in many orgs.

This will be an interesting data decade, though it's off to a rough start. I do worry about the future of employment for many. I think the key is to be flexible, continue to learn, and constantly improve your skills so that you can adapt to new requirements and meet them at a high level.

Steve Jones - SSC Editor

Join the debate, and respond to today's editorial on the forums

 
 Featured Contents
Stairway to DAX and Power BI

Stairway to DAX and Power BI - Level 13: Simple Context Manipulation: Introducing the DAX All() Function

Bill Pearson from SQLServerCentral.com

Business Intelligence Architect, Analysis Services Maestro, eight-year Microsoft Data Platform MVP and author Bill Pearson introduces the DAX All() function, discussing its syntax, basic uses and operation. He then provides hands-on exposure to All(), focusing largely upon its most basic uses in manipulating filter context.

What’s changed for database monitoring this year?

Additional Articles from Redgate

Have your say on the state of database monitoring in 2020. In this latest blog, Redgate’s Jamie Wallis reviews what we discovered from last year’s survey and how you can define the insights for 2020. Tell us and you can get early access to the report plus be entered for a chance to win a $500 Amazon voucher. Read the blog to find out more:

Free eBook: Performance Tuning with SQL Server Dynamic Management Views

Additional Articles from Redgate

Dynamic Management Views (DMVs) are a significant and valuable addition to the DBA's troubleshooting armory, laying bare previously unavailable information regarding the under-the-covers activity of your database sessions and transactions.

From the SQL Server Central Blogs - EightKB – A new virtual SQL Server event

dbafromthecold@gmail.com from The DBA Who Came In From The Cold

With all the events that have been cancelled over the next few months due to the on-going COVID-19 crisis, Mark Wilkinson (b|t), Anthony Nocentino (b|t), and I wanted to...

From the SQL Server Central Blogs - Jupyter Book Challenges in ADS

Steve Jones - SSC Editor from The Voice of the DBA

I was excited to try the Jupyter Book feature in the March Azure Data Studio (ADS) release. I’ve thought notebooks were an interesting way to teach and I’m looking...

 

 Question of the Day

Today's question (by Steve Jones - SSC Editor):

 

The Shape of a Dataframe

I run this code in Python:
>>> import numpy as np
>>> import pandas as pd
>>> sales = pd.read_csv('sales_data.csv', parse_dates=['Date'])
This gives me a dataframe in the sales variable. I now run the shape method, with this code:
>>> sales.shape
What is returned from this method?  

Think you know the answer? Click here, and find out if you are right.

 

 

 Yesterday's Question of the Day (by Steve Jones - SSC Editor)

Protecting the DMK

I run this code in a SQL Server 2017 user database to create a Database Master Key (DMK).

CREATE MASTER KEY
 ENCRYPTION BY PASSWORD = 'AR#@llyStrongP@ssword!'

Is this DMK still protected by the Service Master Key (SMK)?

Answer: Yes

Explanation: The DMK is encrypted with this password, and a copy encrypted with the SMK. Ref: CREATE MASTER KEY - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/t-sql/statements/create-master-key-transact-sql?view=sql-server-ver15

Discuss this question and answer on the forums

 

 

 

Database Pros Who Need Your Help

Here's a few of the new posts today on the forums. To see more, visit the forums.


SQL Server 2017 - Development
query CTE - Hi, I have a table with 2 fields DocumentID and ArrivedDate. I am able to elaborate only 2 documents in a day. How can I add a field (Final Date) with the correct days (every day with a max of 2 doc)? Thank you
Temp table and table variable - DECLARE @command varchar(1000) SELECT @command = 'USE ? SELECT dbschemas.[name] as 'Schema', dbtables.[name] as 'Table', dbindexes.[name] as 'Index', indexstats.alloc_unit_type_desc, indexstats.avg_fragmentation_in_percent, indexstats.page_count FROM sys.dm_db_index_physical_stats (DB_ID(), NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL) AS indexstats INNER JOIN sys.tables dbtables on dbtables.[object_id] = indexstats.[object_id] INNER JOIN sys.schemas dbschemas on dbtables.[schema_id] = dbschemas.[schema_id] INNER JOIN sys.indexes AS dbindexes ON dbindexes.[object_id] = indexstats.[object_id] […]
SQL Job that takes too long - Hi, I am trying to send notifications to myself when a articular job that longer than 8 minutes to execute. For that , I have created JOB 2 ( Report Issue Job ) as shown below as a SQL AGENT JOB to send notification. Database configuration was setup and was also able to send myself […]
Sql Statement to display multiple true statement - I have a sql statement that checks for certain special characters in a string and returns that. SELECT CASE WHEN (LEN(DSC1) - CHARINDEX(char(1), DSC1)) <> LEN(DSC1) THEN '[DSC1 - NUL (null)], ' WHEN (LEN(DSC1) - CHARINDEX(char(2), DSC1)) <> LEN(DSC1) THEN '[DSC1 - SOH (start of heading)], ' WHEN (LEN(DSC1) - CHARINDEX(char(3), DSC1)) <> LEN(DSC1) THEN […]
SQL Server 2016 - Development and T-SQL
Need help on Concatenate based on Group and Aggregate in SQL 2016 - ************* Got the solution ******************* Hi all, I hope and pray for everyone to be safe during this Covid-19 tough time. I need your help on "Concatenate based on Group and Aggregate in SQL 2016".  I have found a possible solution in SQL 2017 using STRING_AGG( )  but my current sql sever version is SQL […]
Development - SQL Server 2014
Link Server - Hello guys, I need of you help. I have 3 SQL server, srv1, srv2 and srv3. srv2 have 2 network card I hope you can help me. Thanks .
SQL 2012 - General
Sql server error randomly - we have sql jobs running in sql server 2012 environment and it has linked server to sql 2017 server environment.  Randomly receiving the error below.  Rerunning the job complete successfully and this is not reproducible consistently. Error Message: OLE DB provider "SQLNCLI11" for linked server "server ip" returned message "Client unable to establish connection". Msg […]
SQL Server 2019 - Administration
Have SA but unable to grant myself IMPERSONATE - I have sa permissions on server yet I'm unable to grant myself IMPERSONATE in any server database. --i tried GRANT IMPERSONATE ANY LOGIN TO [domain\myself]; GO --Getting Error: Cannot grant, deny, or revoke permissions to sa, dbo, entity owner, information_schema, sys, or yourself. What do I need to do so that I can impersonate another […]
SQL Server 2019 - Development
Real columns are comma separated instead of dot separated ? - Hi, installed a new SQL Server Express 2019 and somehow my real columns are now with comma instead of the usual dot when separating number from decimals (viewed in SSMS). I never had this happen before. I installed the same SQL Express 2 weeks ago and it was fine. Does SQL Server now forces my […]
SQL Server 2008 - General
Get both Count and the data through single query to reduce time - My task includes: 1) Getting the count(which is nothing but the total number of records present in the specific SQL table.As they are millions of rows,  it is taking a lot of time to run the count() query). I need to get the count before I write that data from data flow task(source) to the […]
Reporting Services
TableAdapter configuration wizard problem: no mapping exist - I'm getting this problem message when executing my SQL query: "Generated SELECT statement. 'No mapping exists from DbType Object to a known OdbcType." My SQL query: SELECT hencdiag.diagcode, hadmlog.hpercode, CONCAT(hperson.patlast, ', ', hperson.patfirst, ' ', hperson.patmiddle) AS name, hcity.ctyname AS district, haddr.ctycode, hadmlog.disdate FROM hadmlog INNER JOIN hperson ON hadmlog.hpercode=hperson.hpercode INNER JOIN haddr ON hadmlog.hpercode=haddr.hpercode […]
SSRS 2016
Expand/Collapse action shows "+" instead of "-" - I want the level 0 expand/collapse icon to be "-". Apparently I've done this incorrectly; how do I fix it? Attachments show ToggleItem textbox, Group visibility expression, and Preview.
Powershell
create database if not exists - Good morning all I am looking to create a sql server database if the database does not exist on my instance I use this script for this Import-Module "SQLPS" -DisableNameChecking Import-Module -Name "${PSScriptRoot}\Module\logModule.psm1" -DisableNameChecking Add-Type -AssemblyName "Microsoft.SqlServer.Smo" $servers= 'DESKTOP-95KKMMH\PRODUCTION','DESKTOP-95KKMMH' $database='produit' foreach($server in $servers) { Set-Location SQLSERVER:\SQL\$server $db = New-Object -TypeName Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Smo.Database -Argumentlist $server, $database if($db […]
Relational Theory
Entity Relationship diagram - Path and Node entities - I have two tables; a path table that contains distinct paths and a node table that contains distinct nodes. A node can be present in one or more paths. A path is composed of one or more nodes (the path is composed of the id of the nodes concatenated by a dot). The image below […]
COVID-19 Pandemic
Daily Coping 20 Apr 2020 - Today's tip is to find positive stories in the news and share with others. A few things from me: https://voiceofthedba.com/2020/04/20/daily-copying-20-apr-2020/
 

 

RSS FeedTwitter

This email has been sent to {email}. To be removed from this list, please click here. If you have any problems leaving the list, please contact the webmaster@sqlservercentral.com. This newsletter was sent to you because you signed up at SQLServerCentral.com.
©2019 Redgate Software Ltd, Newnham House, Cambridge Business Park, Cambridge, CB4 0WZ, United Kingdom. All rights reserved.
webmaster@sqlservercentral.com

 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -