SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT-BI) for Visual Studio 2013 are back and available for download

SSDT-BI were down for almost a month after the release of the SQL Server 2014 causing a lot of frustration to the end users who were trying to develop BI solutions using Visual Studio 2013. No point of getting into the reasons why, let's just take a deep breath and download the latest version here … Continue reading SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT-BI) for Visual Studio 2013 are back and available for download

Microsoft makes big announcements at SQL PASS

I will have a more detailed write-up of everything later but still wanted to give a quick summary of the new announcements: Updateable Column store – Project Hekaton will be released in the next major release of SQL Server and will allow us create updateable clustered column store indexes. This is huge, 20-50 performance increases … Continue reading Microsoft makes big announcements at SQL PASS

Using AlwaysOn to offload read-only workloads

Microsoft has posted a white paper that discusses how to physically partition your hardware in order to optimize read-write vs read only workloads on your transactional system. Why is this important? Well, there are certain ERP vendors who claim that any access to their data outside of what they explicitly support (or certify) compromises their solution … Continue reading Using AlwaysOn to offload read-only workloads

Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Fast Track White Paper is now available

Microsoft has updated its excellent Fast Track ( Microsoft Data Warehouse reference architecture) white paper for latest versoin of SQL Server (2012).  Whether you decide to follow this architecture or not (and there are good reasons for and against it given your budget and objectives), you will find a wealth of great and useful information that will help you … Continue reading Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Fast Track White Paper is now available