Mathom Solutions Blog-IT

As you know, I am a big fan of Free...here are some other goodies:

Engineering Software for Accessibility by Microsoft Press. In an effort to enable software developers to create accessible Windows applications, we wanted to share our process with the community. We have captured this engineering process in a new book, Engineering Software for Accessibility. The book addresses three basic questions:

1. How do you plan for accessibility?
2. How do you design your software for accessibility?
3. How can you implement and test to your software to confirm it meets the accessible design?

You will learn that properly implemented accessibility enables access to Windows applications for users with a variety of capabilities.  

Get it before it is gone!

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SQL Server Tacklebox by Rodney Landrum. Essential tools and scripts for the day-to-day DBA that helps with Scripts, tools and techniques to tackle SQL Server issues, Troubleshoot performance issues, Receive notifications of impending issues, Fight off data corruption, Document and report on your servers, Automate and standardize SQL Server installation, Migrate data and manage data growth, and Secure access to your servers.    

This is sponsored by Red-Gate Software.   

• Data Compression: Strategy, Capacity Planning and Best Practices | Microsoft
  The data compression feature in SQL Server 2008 helps compress the data and help reduce the size of the database. As well, because compressed data is stored in fewer pages, you get improved I/O performance for intensive workloads. However, it all comes at a cost, extra CPU resources are required on the server to compress and decompress the data. Therefore, it is important to understand the workload characteristics when deciding how to best implement compression.
  (tags: sqlserver sql2008 compression)

• SQL Server Storage Links | SQLCrunch
  A very very comprehensive list of articles/blogs about SQL Server storage preparation, sizing, I/O requirements and testing, partition alignment, and many other storage topics.
  (tags: sqlserver san storage performance)

• Microsoft Case Studies: MySpace
  MySpace Uses SQL Server Service Broker to Protect Integrity of 1 Petabyte of Data. The site’s 1 petabyte of data is managed by 440 Microsoft® SQL Server® instances and resides on 3PAR® Utility Storage. When MySpace needed a message queuing and delivery solution to help ensure data changes were correctly and atomically executed on all affected physical database instances, MySpace created an internal solution, called Service Dispatcher, using the Service Broker feature of SQL Server 2005. Service Broker has helped MySpace ensure data integrity across its distributed infrastructure, resulting in a better user experience. Service Broker also helps MySpace developers to roll out new services faster.
  (tags: sqlserver service_broker scalability)
• Learn Microsoft BI > Home
  The goal here is simple: to provide free videos and forums about the Microsoft BI stack. This includes SQL Server Integration Services, SQL Server Analysis Services, SQL Server Reporting Services, PerformancePoint Server, ProClarity, SharePoint, and Excel.
  (tags: sqlserver business_intelligence ssis ssas ssrs)

• SQLClue | Bill Wunder
  SQLClue is a series of DBA tools by Bill Wunder to help you: 1. monitor SQL Server metadata change in mixed SQL Server 2000, 2005 and 2008 environments 2. share, search, and improved the knowledge and information of the data center as a data team 3. define and meet the business continuity needs of the data center 4. provide Database Developers with as needed access to the bits and behaviors of live systemns without direct live system access to accelerated the development environment.
  (tags: SQL runbook configuration)
• The Data Loading Performance Guide | Microsoft
  This white paper describes load strategies for achieving high-speed data modifications of Microsoft SQL Server database
  (tags: sqlserver bulkload performance Microsoft)

• rusanu.com » Detect network connectivity changes in .Net applications
  A way to test for network connection/disconnection in your .Net applications.
  (tags: .Net connectivity)
• Kendal Van Dyke: Replication Snapshot Errors Caused By Compatibility Level Setting
  Possible error in replication when using different compatability levels across SQL versions for your publisher, subscriber, distributor.
  (tags: sqlserver Replication)
• SQL Server 2008 Spotlight on Cost | Microsoft
  A silverlight tool (and link to a spreadsheet) to help dollar cost justify your SQL Server purchase. (NOTE: need to use IE to get this page to display correctly).
  (tags: sqlserver justification)
• The Ozar Family Tradition of Performance Monitoring | Brent Ozar - SQL Server DBA
  A couple of useful links to using SQL Server Wait Stats to determine bottlenecks.
  (tags: sqlserver wait_statistics Performance)

• Determine Free Space, Consumed Space and Total Space Allocated for Microsoft SQL Server databases
  All inclusive script for determining free/used space for all db's on your SQL Server
  (tags: sqlserver db_free_space)
• SQL Server VLDB Partitioning Tutorial | SQLServerPedia
  Tables with hundreds of millions of rows or billions of rows need a way to manage that data easier. SQL Server 2005 introduced partitioning, and it’s been improved ever since. Learn about how to implement it in this ten-minute training video.
  (tags: sqlserver VLDB)
• Analyzing Your Indexes with a Custom Report | SQLServerPedia
  A series of blogs by Jason Strate that talks about SQL Server Index DMV's and a quick glance report (details on Codeplex).
  (tags: Index sqlserver)
• Thrive
  A Microsoft site to help advance your career, enhance your technical skills, and help align IT with business.
  (tags: Microsoft Thrive Career)
• SQL Server 2008 Failover Clustering - Whitepapers
  Microsoft Whitepaper on SQL Server 2008 Clustering
  (tags: sqlserver Clustering Whitepaper Availability)

I ran across a couple of good links for free e-books about Microsoft SQL Server and figured I should share them.  

Introducing SQL Server 2008 by Peter Debetta, Greg Low, and Mark Whitehorn.  You can learn about the new features SQL Server 2008 including Security and Administration, Performance, Type System, Programability, Storage, High Availability, and Business Intelligence.  

Brad's Sure Guide to SQL Server 2008 by Brad McGehee.   This is about SQL Server 2008 and also includes two of his other books:  How to become an exceptional DBA and DBA Best Practices.  

Mastering SQL Server Profiler by Brad McGehee.  As its name implies, learning all about SQL Server Profiler (2005) and how it can help you make your systems faster.  

Dissecting SQL Server Execution Plans by Grant Fritchey.  Hey, this is an awesome book that talks about how you can read the excution plans and make your system go faster....hey who wouldn't want that?

Hopefully you will find these helpful.   

Also, if you know of any others, please let me know.