Technologies

Rajendra Gupta

Helpful Linux commands for SQL Server DBAs – top

December 11, 2018 by

SQL Server 2017 and SQL Server 2019 supports both the Linux operating system. As part of performance troubleshooting or monitoring resources in Windows system, we need to check certain things like disk space, CPU or Memory consumption, check running processes, uptime etc. We can get the information, on a windows based SQL server, from the task manager.

Prashanth Jayaram

Graph database implementation with Azure Cosmos DB using the API

November 5, 2018 by

In my previous article, I’ve discussed a lot about the Graph database implementation with SQL Server 2017. In this case, we’ll see a walk-through of Graph API integration with Azure Cosmos DB.

Before we jump into the concepts though, let’s take a high-level overview of NoSQL databases. A NoSQL database is designed in such a way that no extra efforts are needed for the database to be distributed because NoSQL Database designed that way.

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Prashanth Jayaram

How to setup cross-platform transactional SQL Server replication for database reporting on Linux

August 31, 2018 by

In most cases, an organization can either use the existing out-of-the-box database replication features offered by their database software provider or invest in custom solutions to execute and manage database replication processes. The latter option sometimes allows greater flexibility to create data replicas across multiple types on multiple platforms.

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Prashanth Jayaram

Backup and Restore operations with SQL Server 2017 on Docker containers using Azure Data Studio

July 19, 2018 by

In this 18th article of the series, we will discuss the concepts of database backup-and-restore of SQL Server Docker containers using Azure Data Studio. Before proceeding, you need to have Docker engine installed and Azure Data Studio configured on your host machine.

This article covers the following topics:

  1. Overview of Azure Data Studio (ADS)
  2. How to use Azure Data Studio integrated terminal
  3. Definition of Docker containers
  4. Step by step instructions to initiate backup-and-restore of SQL Server 2017 Docker containers using the Azure Data Studio interface
  5. And more…
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Prashanth Jayaram

Backup Linux SQL Server databases using PowerShell and Windows task scheduler

May 22, 2018 by

This article is an in-depth guide on how PowerShell can be used to maintain and manage SQL backup on Linux and Windows machines.

Here’s an outline of what this article is all about:

  • Introduction
  • Technical specifications
  • How to load SQL Server modules on Windows machine
  • Security – Credential Management
  • The objectives of Backup and Restore
  • Library Linkage
  • How SQL Server 2017 backup feature is used on Linux
  • And more …
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Sifiso Ndlovu

Understanding benefits of Graph Databases over Relational Databases through Self-Joins in SQL Server

May 21, 2018 by

Earlier this year, I published several articles on SQLShack with an aim of demonstrating tools available for visualising SQL Server 2017 graph databases. I was so caught up in the excitement of having SQL Server finally support graph databases that I forgot that some people still do not have a good grasp of how graph databases work let alone consider replacing their relational databases models in favour of graph. Although there are several ways that one can go about explaining the usefulness of graph databases over its relational counterpart, I have opted to focus on the benefits and strengths of graph databases by demonstrating the differences in which graph and relational databases deal with hierarchical datasets.

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Sifiso Ndlovu

How to use Microsoft Flow to extract SharePoint Online list data

May 3, 2018 by

Data extraction is a pivotal part of any business process particularly when it comes to running reports and facilitating business decision-making. In the article, How to configure OData SSIS Connection for SharePoint Online, I covered data extraction off a SharePoint Online list using SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS). You would have noticed in the aforementioned article that getting SSIS to successfully integrate with SharePoint Online lists can be a laborious exercise, especially if you haven’t installed the correct SharePoint SDK files. Thus, in business environments where business and Power Users have more control of data extraction processes, SSIS could get complicated for an ordinary business user to operate. Therefore, given the nature of our source data and the platform in which it resides, ETL architects and developers alike may need to find alternative ETL tools to SSIS. This brings me to Microsoft Flow which could be one possible alternative to using SSIS for data extraction. Microsoft Flow is part of Office 365 applications and just like SharePoint Online, is a cloud-based application that is freely available, easier to operate and effortlessly integrates with – amongst other applications – SharePoint Online. The aim of this article is to demonstrate the convenience of extracting data from one SharePoint Online list to another using Microsoft Flow.

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Sifiso Ndlovu

How to configure OData SSIS Connection for SharePoint Online

April 13, 2018 by

As data warehouse developers, we often have to extract data from a myriad of source systems. Thus, whilst some source systems readily integrate with our ETL tools there are instances whereby we need to install additional drivers and software addons in order to successfully connect and extract data from other source systems. Microsoft SharePoint Online is one such source system that I recently had to extract data from and its connectors are by default not part of the standard SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) package template. As SSIS developers we often don’t have solid background on environments such as SharePoint, thus figuring out which version of SharePoint Software Development Kit to install in order to enable successful connection from SSIS can sometimes be a frustrating experience. In this article, I try to alleviate some of that frustration by sharing some of my recent experiences relating to getting data out of a SharePoint list using SSIS.

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Jefferson Elias

A concrete example of migration between an Oracle Database and SQL Server using Microsoft Data Migration Assistant

April 12, 2018 by

Introduction

Intended audience

This document is intended for application developers and database administrators who plan to migrate an Oracle Database to Microsoft SQL Server.

Context

In the previous article, we saw how to install and prepare to migrate one or more Oracle Schema(s) and their objects to SQL Server. Now it’s time to go through the migration process…

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Jefferson Elias

Migrating an Oracle Database to SQL Server with Microsoft Data Migration Assistant – Installation Process and Short Overview

March 27, 2018 by

Intended audience

This document is intended for application developers and database administrators who plan to migrate an Oracle Database to Microsoft SQL Server.

Context

Nowadays, most IT professionals are aware that Oracle Database is a very good database solution, but it’s not inexpensive, to say the least. If you want to partition a table in Oracle, it’s an option that you must pay for, which is the same for advanced security options like Database Encryption or Dynamic Data Masking. In contrast, SQL Server comes with these options out of the box when you use the Enterprise Edition.

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