Managing Complex DB Environments

KKline — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 15:05:00 GMT

Check out the new white paper “Key Methods for Managing Complex DB Environments” at Quest.com. Heterogeneous database management hassles used to be much less common than today. When I first started at Quest nearly ten years ago, I'd put forward that on 15-20% of my big customers regularly managed more than one major database platform. (That doesn't mean they didn't have more than one, rather secondary platforms were either unmanaged or considered entirely unimportant). Today, I'd put forward that 70-80% of my big customers support at least two major database platforms. Often, they support three or more.

This white paper addresses methods for successfully managing today’s complex heterogeneous database infrastructures. Topics discussed include: balancing key business metrics, understanding challenges to the DBA, and managing multiple database platforms (i.e. Oracle, SQL Server, DB2, Sybase) simultaneously.

Enjoy,

-Kev

P.S. Follow me on Twitter!

SQL Server Migration Roll-Up

KKline — Mon, 02 May 2011 14:42:00 GMT

There are so many great tools out there for data professionals using Microsoft SQL Server. I really like to see all of these great tools made free to the public. On the other hand, I'm bummed that the tools are cast about in a very decentralized fashion. If you haven't done migrations before, you might want to start with these good white papers first.

Here are a hand full of cool migration tools worth mentioning:

Microsoft SQL Server Migration Assistant (SSMA) for MySQL: Migrate from MySQL to SQL Azure or SQL Server with ease. Plus, here are a few related Knowledge Base (KB) articles:

Azure SQL Service: Database Migration To Sql Azure
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2212855/en-US

Azure SQL Service: Database Migration To Sql Azure
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2212990/en-US

Azure SQL Service: Developing Applications For Sql Azure
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2213496/en-US

SQL Server Migration Assistant (SSMA) for Sybase: Migrate from Sybase ASE to SQL Server 2005, SQL Server 2008 and SQL Server 2008 R2.

SQL Server Migration Assistant (SSMA) for Microsoft Access: Migrate from Access to SQL Server 2005, SQL Server 2008, SQL Server 2008 R2 and SQL Azure.

SQL Server Migration Assistant (SSMA) for Oracle: Migrate from Oracle to SQL Server 2005, SQL Server 2008 or SQL Server 2008 R2. I'm thinking about installing it on my SQL Servers even without even needing to migrate existing Oracle databases to SQL Server. Why? Well as an old Oracle hand, I came to really enjoy quite a few Oracle PL/SQL system packages (kind'a like a SQL Server system stored procedure, but often more powerful). As it turns out SSMA-Oracle includes stored procedures, extended stored procedures, and CLR routines that reproduce the functionality in most all of the cool and powerful Oracle packages like DBMS_PIPES. It'd be nice to have those on my SQL Servers just because I know them and like them.

Microsoft Drivers for PHP for SQL Server 2.0: Microsoft Drivers for PHP for SQL Server - and PHP is good.

Microsoft Services for Mission Critical Customers: Many enterprise customers running mission critical applications on SQL Server have asked for more - more service and support for their environments. This is an add-on that costs extra, but it's worth it for those running the systems that keep the company in business.
If you've tried any of these tools out, I'm keen to hear your experiences. Did they work well for you? Did they work, though poorly? Did they fail utterly? Inquiring minds want to know.

~~~

Enjoy!

-Kev

Twitter at kekline

Search results matching tags 'Administration', 'Sybase', and 'Interoperability'

Managing Complex DB Environments

SQL Server Migration Roll-Up