As the news travels about the Deprecated Database Engine Features in SQL Server 2012, many start to get the fainting scare in them due to features they have worked endlessly on to provide a stable solution in either their company’s system or client’s systems. Reviewing the deprecated list that is generated with each major release of SQL Server is an absolutely critical stage as a SQL Server Professional. It provides us with that scare that ensures we understand what we will have to do between now and the two major releases into the future.

This is part four of a series about Report Builder 3.0. Report Builder 3.0 – The Introduction Report Builder 3.0 – Table or Matrix Wizard Report Builder 3.0 – Chart Wizard Report Builder 3.0 – Map Wizard Report Builder 3.0 – Report Parts Charts and other visualizations can be a very powerful and effective way to make your data tell a story. A black and white table listing sales dollars per month can tell an executive which territory has the most sales.

Throughout the last couple of years I’ve constantly heard that using SA for linked servers is a horrible idea. Setting up another SQL account with full rights to a server for the link is just about as bad an idea. If only there was some way to pass the user’s authentication between servers…. Oh wait, there is! Thanks to Kerberos authentication we can set up our SQL Servers to pass authentication of a user from one place to another, and now a user will never see anything that they weren’t supposed to see!

Today I heard the famous words “Sorry I’m not a programmer” from the vendor of one of our new projects. But the guy was writing webservices for us. And he was doing it wrong in a dreadful way. And to make matters worse he wrote it all in VB.Net. I had to tell him what an array was. I had to tell him what a property was. I had to tell him how to make a generic list.

Troubleshooting Methodolgy One of my favorite books is, “Troubleshooting SQL Server – A Guide for the Accidental DBA”. I may have helped author the book but I also rely on the book and the other authors to remind me just how important troubleshooting as a distinct set of tasks with parameters and means to deductions is. The book has a great deal of content in terms of SQL Server performance paths that start from a problem andend in a resolution.

A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do, and the last few days it has been writing helpfiles. Or actually I’m writing a manual for my application(s). And why would I need to do that? It’s not like my users don’t know how to use my program they have been using it for years in one form or the other. Or that’s what I think anyway. The problem is that we are going for accreditation and everything has to be documented so that new people can more easily get to grips with what we are doing and so that the older people can prove that what they are doing is what everyone else on the team is doing.

CozyRoc has always been one of my favorite companies producing custom components and tasks for SSIS. I’ve found many real life cases in production settings where the products that CozyRoc provides have been invaluable for rapid development and performance enhancing capabilities in SSIS. The CozyRoc line has also made it into my presentations that revolve around SSIS to show how the improvements they can bring can greatly benefit installations.

This is part three of a series about Report Builder 3.0. Report Builder 3.0 – The Introduction Report Builder 3.0 – Table or Matrix Wizard Report Builder 3.0 – Chart Types, Visualizations, and Properties Report Builder 3.0 – Map Wizard Report Builder 3.0 – Report Parts In this post, I’ll cover the Chart Wizard, which allows you to build colorful, graphic charts in a few simple steps. The Chart Wizard can be accessed in two ways.

As you may know it is now possible to sequence your DNA in seconds. And as you can imagine someone will now think this is great for authentication. Just put your finger on the machine and log in. After all there is nothing more unique than your DNA (leaving one-egged twins out of this for a moment). Combine this with a password and you have a very secure system. Well no, you just have a false sense of security.

Now that I have moved back over to the not-so-technical side, I find that I am having to relearn things that I probably knew a long time before but have forgotten. As I have pointed out to my friends before, I don’t care so much about what tools I use so long as the job gets done. However, since I don’t have ready access to dev tools at this job (since I’m not a developer in this role), I have to go back to more common office tools.