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October, 2005
In
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All articles have been reprinted with the written consent of their respective authors.
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The Keys to the Database Choices related to primary key selection are among the more important decisions made in developing a database design to support an application. In this column, I would like to share with you some of my thoughts about primary key selection for a DB2 database. The primary key of a table is a column or a set of columns used to uniquely identify a row of the table. Among the factors that should be considered when selecting a primary key for a table is the length of the key.
Click here
for the article. | ||||||||||||||||
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Make Your Move New features in DB2 UDB v.8.1 help DBAs move tables faster. DBA's are always looking for quick and easy ways to move tables into new
tablespaces. Sometimes table moves are necessary because tables are getting too
big; sometimes because grouping a set of tables in a particular tablespace will
improve performance. SAP DBAs face a particular challenge; R/3 4.7 includes
about 35,000 tables. Help arrived with DB2 Universal Database (UDB) v.8.1 for
Linux, Unix, and Windows in the form of new options that make moving tables
faster. These options are good news for all DBAs, but particularly for SAP DBAs. Click here
for the article. | ||||||||||||||||
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Picking Your Packages The Oracle PL/SQL language is a joy to use; it is a straightforward and
eminently readable programming tool. It is also focused like a laser beam on its
particular niche: performing operations against the underlying Oracle database.
One of the most important and useful elements of PL/SQL is the package. In
the early days of PL/SQL, many developers were unfamiliar with the package. They
knew how to work with procedures, functions, and triggers, but packages
presented another level of complexity and abstraction. Today, the package has moved into mainstream PL/SQL programming. It is widely
accepted as a fundamental building block of PL/SQL applications. Yet I still
receive a steady stream of questions from PL/SQL programmers about the
applicability of packages and some concerns about their usage. This article reviews the underlying concepts and key benefits of PL/SQL
packages and then explores some of the less familiar nuances of package
behavior. Finally, I look at a situation where it makes sense to avoid packages.
Click here for more.
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In A Nutshell
Interested in learning more tips and techniques for SQL Server? "In A Nutshell"
is what you are looking for. Kevin Kline,
author of O'Reilly's "SQL in a Nutshell" and "Transact-SQL Programming" and President of The Professional Association for SQL Server,
offers tips, techniques and much more. Updated numerous times a week,
there is always valuable material to be had!
Click
here
to see what Kevin is up to in the SQL Server world.
Step-by-Step Guide: Ensuring data integrity in SQL Server Data integrity in SQL Server is one of those things that doesn't seem like an obvious topic for an administrator to address directly. After all, doesn't SQL Server automatically ensure the integrity of your data? Well, yes, but only up to a point. SQL Server itself won't protect you from inept handling of transactions, for instance, or breaking internal referential integrity -- two of many things that can ruin the quality of your data. Data integrity isn't just about ensuring that you have a nightly backup in case a table goes bad (although having backups is always a good idea!). It's also about developing good habits so data doesn't become poisoned in the course of normal work.
This guide tells you how to enforce and ensure data integrity on many fronts at
once -- not just in your database maintenance habits, but also programming,
bounds checking and other realms that can be overlooked.
Click
here
to see this article.
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Putting the MySQL information_schema to Use The MySQL information schema database was introduced in the September issue of the newsletter. We've seen that the information schema allows us to access metadata in a much more flexible way than the MySQL specific SHOW commands. We owe this to the fact that the information schema allows us to query and format metadata using arbitrary SELECT statements. Let's explore this feature, and try to put that to good use.
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Regardless of how a project team gets assigned, the project manager needs to make sure that the team members have the right skills to complete their assigned tasks. In fact, if the team members do not have all the right skills and the project manager cannot help them acquire the skills, the project would appear to be at risk. This does not have to mean sending a person to class. There are many other learning events that can help . . . Click here for more information on building the right skillsets. | ||||||||||||||||
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Webcasts
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Interactive Crossword
Puzzle: "TV Shows"
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We love getting white papers, tips, articles, and code examples/archives from our readers around the world. Send your submission to newsletter@quest-pipelines.com. If your article is published, it will be mailed to over 28,000 subscribers. Our mission at Quest Software - RevealNet Labs is to anticipate the daily responsibilities and challenges faced by database professionals. Our products help thousands of people solve problems and implement solutions every day. This newsletter is designed to help facilitate the sharing of information among database professionals. About the Newsletter This newsletter is distributed to Quest Software - RevealNet Labs customers, prospects and friends who have subscribed to it from our website. If you would like to unsubscribe, please visit http://qlist01.quest.com/UnsubMailingList/ Subscribe a Friend! Do you know someone who would like to receive the Pipeline Newsletter? If so, please enter their email address in the box below and click SUBMIT.
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