Subscribe to SQL Server Magazine: http://lists.sqlmag.com/t?ctl=1E792:7B3DA
To ensure that future email messages you receive from SQL Server Magazine UPDATE aren't mistakenly blocked by antispam software, be sure to add [email protected] to your list of allowed senders and contacts.
This Issue Sponsored By
This email newsletter comes to you free and is supported by the following advertisers, who offer products and services that might interest you. Please take a moment to visit these advertisers' Web sites and show your support for SQL Server Magazine UPDATE.
Scalable
http://lists.sqlmag.com/t?ctl=1E78A:7B3DA
Symantec
http://lists.sqlmag.com/t?ctl=1E78B:7B3DA
January 19, 2006
1. Perspectives
2. News & Views
3. Events and Resources
4. Featured White Paper
5. Peer to Peer
6. Announcements
7. New & Improved
Sponsor: Scalable
How much are you spending on IT compliance?
Streamline and automate the compliance life cycle with this FREE white paper, and reduce your costs today!
http://lists.sqlmag.com/t?ctl=1E78A:7B3DA
1. Perspectives
by Brian Moran, [email protected]
In a perfect world (or at least the World According to Bill), everyone would use All Microsoft Products All the Time and you'd never need silly things like interoperability software. Alas, the world isn't perfect, and small pockets of renegades still use non-Microsoft software to run their businesses.
In recent years, Microsoft has done a better job of extending an interoperability olive branch to these renegades in an attempt to make their lives easier until they eventually realize that All Microsoft All The Time is simply a better way to live. In this spirit, Microsoft announced the availability of its free SQL Server 2005 JDBC driver. This Type 4 JDBC driver is based on the JDBC 3.0 implementation and is JDK v1.4 compliant. The driver supports a variety of OSs, including Windows Server 2003, Windows 2000, Windows XP, HP-UX, IBM AIX, Linux, and Solaris.
Microsoft says the new driver includes "performance and transaction improvements, as well as support for SQL Server 2005 features such as XML." SQL Server supports the latest Java interoperability standards, and Microsoft says this release "is intended to lay the core foundation and infrastructure for major enhancement moving forward."
Of course, other vendors also provide JDBC drivers, but free is nice, and it's also nice to see Microsoft's continued interest in supporting those pesky renegades. A word of caution: Not all drivers are created alike. In the past, some third-party JDBC drivers were faster than the free Microsoft driver. I haven't had the ability to personally benchmark this driver, so I'm absolutely not implying that this driver isn't highly performant. And I'm convinced that Microsoft is serious about providing interoperability to non-Microsoft platform customers who want to use SQL Server. But, if I were tasked with building a highly scaleable solution based on JDBC-to-SQL Server connectivity, I'd want to personally test the Microsoft driver to ensure performance and other features are as good as or better than drivers provided by other vendors.
I'd love to hear from readers who have experience using both Microsoft and third-party data-access stacks for JDBC connectivity to SQL Server 2005. Send your tips and observations to me at [email protected], and I'll share them with the rest of the SQL Server community.
To close on a more serious note, I sense that Microsoft is committed to making the interoperability experience more seamless for its customers, which is a good thing. And no, I don't think that the world should be all Microsoft All The Time. Just most of the time. You can download the driver at
http://lists.sqlmag.com/t?ctl=1E793:7B3DA
Sponsor: Symantec
Breaking Through the Dissimilar Hardware Restore Challenge
Failure of a computer's hardware is inevitable. When hardware must be replaced, you need a rapid system recovery solution. In this free white paper, you'll learn about recovery to virtual computer environments, hardware migration strategies, hardware repurposing for optimal resource utilization, meeting recovery-time objectives, increasing disaster tolerance, and more.
http://lists.sqlmag.com/t?ctl=1E78B:7B3DA
2. News & Views
Fix Gets Around Help File Error Message
When you run the sp_helpfile stored procedure on a data file or log file in SQL Server 2005 or 2000, you might receive the error message "Arithmetic overflow error converting expression to data type int." The problem occurs when the max_size value of the file multiplied by 8 is greater than the maximum int size (2,147,483,647). Microsoft provides a workaround for this error in the article "Error message when you run the sp_helpfile stored procedure in SQL Server 2005 or in SQL Server 2000: "Arithmetic overflow error converting expression to data type int." You can read about the problem and get the workaround at
http://lists.sqlmag.com/t?ctl=1E791:7B3DA
Results of Previous Instant Poll: Employment Outlook
"What's the employment outlook for IT jobs at your company in the coming year?" Here are the results from the 80:
New Instant Poll: Wanna Read a Wiki?
"Do you use one or more wikis as a primary research tool?" Go to the SQL Server Magazine home page ( http://lists.sqlmag.com/t?ctl=1E79B:7B3DA ) and submit your vote for
3. Events and Resources
Learn how to differentiate between a portal, a dashboard, and a scorecard.
http://lists.sqlmag.com/t?ctl=1E78E:7B3DA
SQL Server experts will present real-world information about administration, development, and business intelligence to help you put SQL Server 2005 into practice and learn how to use its new capabilities. Includes one-year PASS membership and subscription to SQL Server Magazine. Register now for London, UK, and Stockholm, Sweden.
http://lists.sqlmag.com/t?ctl=1E788:7B3DA
Industry expert Paul Robichaux discusses how availability is a function of unplanned downtime only, helping you achieve a system that's available 99.9% of the time.
http://lists.sqlmag.com/t?ctl=1E78D:7B3DA
Learn how to allocate scarce time and financial resources by consolidating servers and storage. View the on-demand event now!
http://lists.sqlmag.com/t?ctl=1E786:7B3DA
http://lists.sqlmag.com/t?ctl=1E797:7B3DA
4. Featured White Paper
http://lists.sqlmag.com/t?ctl=1E785:7B3DA
5. Peer to Peer
by Microsoft's SQL Server Development Team, [email protected]
Q. When I use the TaskPad in Enterprise Manager to check a database's allocated, used, and free space (as reported on the General tab), the values I see don't match the values I get when I use the sp_HelpDB and sp_Spaceused stored procedures. Can I use T-SQL to return the same information that I see when I use the TaskPad?
http://lists.sqlmag.com/t?ctl=1E789:7B3DA
Microsoft's Language Integrated Query (LINQ) technology lets programmers access database and XML data sources by using query extensions that Microsoft has added to the .NET Framework. In his January editorial "LINQ--The Missing Piece of Database Development," Michael Otey explains how LINQ addresses one of the biggest disconnects that exists in the current database development model. Read this article today and post your comments at
http://lists.sqlmag.com/t?ctl=1E787:7B3DA
The word on the street is that SQL Server 2005 makes an excellent platform for SAP applications. In this week's blog "SQL Server and SAP Certification," Kevin Kline takes a look at SAP's short time frame for certifying SQL Server applications and modules and asks what you expect to be your biggest migration challenges. Read about SQL Server and SAP and let Kevin know your migration frustrations today at
http://lists.sqlmag.com/t?ctl=1E78C:7B3DA
Hot Threads: Check out the following hot threads, and see other discussions in our 30 SQL Server forums.
http://lists.sqlmag.com/t?ctl=1E794:7B3DA
Administration: Defragmenting the Database file *.mdf
http://lists.sqlmag.com/t?ctl=1E77F:7B3DA
T-SQL: Search for Rows Where One Field is NULL
http://lists.sqlmag.com/t?ctl=1E77E:7B3DA
Performance: Update of Text Column
http://lists.sqlmag.com/t?ctl=1E782:7B3DA
Data Access: Binary Data Type
http://lists.sqlmag.com/t?ctl=1E781:7B3DA
Replication: Tables with FK and Not NFR
http://lists.sqlmag.com/t?ctl=1E780:7B3DA
DTS: Help with Export to DBF File
http://lists.sqlmag.com/t?ctl=1E783:7B3DA
Hot Spot
Optimize your existing Windows Server infrastructure with the addition of server and storage consolidation software and techniques. Also get tips and guidelines to evaluate your current infrastructure and determine what segments of your environment are suitable for consolidation.
http://lists.sqlmag.com/t?ctl=1E784:7B3DA
6. Announcements
Hundreds of free tips and articles on SQL Server performance tuning and clustering. And get quick and accurate answers to your performance- and cluster-related questions in our forum. All from the SQL Server performance and clustering authority: SQL-Server-Performance.com.
http://lists.sqlmag.com/t?ctl=1E795:7B3DA
You won't want to miss any of SQL Server Magazine's upcoming 2006 issues. Subscribe now and discover the best ways to plan for a successful SQL Server 2005 upgrade, the value of integrating Visual Studio 2005, ways ADO.NET 2.0 solves your problems, the annual Top SQL Server Tips issue, and much more! You'll also gain exclusive access to the entire SQL Server Magazine online article database FREE and SAVE up to $40 off the full cover price. Subscribe today:
http://lists.sqlmag.com/t?ctl=1E78F:7B3DA
7. New & Improved
by Blake Eno, [email protected]
Migrate Oracle Forms to Microsoft .NET Applications
ATX Software released Forms2Net 2.0, a Visual Studio 2005 tool that lets you convert Oracle Forms 9i, 6i, 5.0, and 4.5 applications to Microsoft .NET applications. The product produces Visual C# .NET code to let you create Web Forms, which use ASP.NET technology, and Windows Forms, which use Microsoft Smart Client Technology. Forms2Net works at the application layer and lets you decide whether to keep using your Oracle database or switch to a SQL Server 2005 database. Pricing for ATX Software Forms2Net 2.0 is on a per-project basis. For more information, contact ATX Software at [email protected] or [email protected].
http://lists.sqlmag.com/t?ctl=1E79A:7B3DA
Add Functionality For Managing ADO.NET Data Tables
Red Brook Software announced WiredNav 3.0, a Microsoft .NET control for managing ADO.NET data tables. The product connects with Visual Studio's SqlDataAdapter control and at runtime, will automatically connect to every data object on your Windows Form. You can use WiredNav in your database applications without needing to write code or make initial property settings. In addition, WiredNav adds flexible support for SQL Server Reporting Services and Crystal Reports for Visual Studio .NET. Pricing for Red Brook Software WiredNav 3.0 starts at $199 for a single-user license. For more information, contact Red Brook Software at [email protected] or 518-248-3450.
http://lists.sqlmag.com/t?ctl=1E798:7B3DA
Contact Us
SQL Server Magazine UPDATE is brought to you by SQL Server Magazine, the only magazine devoted to helping developers and DBAs master new and emerging SQL Server technologies and issues. Subscribe today.
http://www.windowsitpro.com/rd.cfm?s=9&code=eu215xsL
View the SQL Server Magazine Privacy Policy.
http://www.windowsitpro.com/aboutus/index.cfm?action=privacy
SQL Server Magazine is a division of Penton Media, Inc., 221 East 29th Street, Loveland, CO 80538, Attention: Customer Service Department
Copyright 2006, Penton Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
