Windows Azure is a platform that allows you to write software, run software, or use software that we've already written. We provide lots of resources to help you do that - many can be found right here in this blog series. There are two primary resources you can use, and it's important to understand what they are and what they do. The Windows ...

I've filed a few Connect items recently that I think are important. In #752210, I complain that the documentation for DDL triggers suggests that they can prevent certain DDL from being run, which is not the case at all.      ...

Windows Azure is a platform that has you covered, whether you need to write software, run software that is already written, or Install and use “canned” software whether you or someone else wrote it. Like any platform, it’s a set of tools you can use where it makes sense to solve a problem. You can click on the graphic below for ...

I’m fascinated by the way people learn. I’m told there are several methods people use to understand new information, from reading to watching, from experiencing to exploring. Personally, I use multiple methods of learning when I encounter a new topic, usually starting with reading a bit about the concepts. I quickly want to put those into ...

One of the advantages of using Windows Azure to run your code is that you don’t have to constantly manage upgrades on your platform. While that’s a big advantage indeed, it immediately brings up the question - how do the upgrades happen? Microsoft upgrades the Azure platform in periodic increments, and the components that are affected are ...

  I was just tasked with putting together a list of all the IP Addresses of the SQL Servers that one of my clients deals with on a daily basis. In this case there was over 30 of them and while I could ping each one individually I found an easier way that you might find useful as well if you are in the same circumstance. I figured there must ...

  The SolidQ Journal is published monthly by SolidQ and packed with lots of good information related to SQL Server and related topics. If you haven’t already signed up to get these each month then have a look here.  It’s a free resource that only cost’s you the time to read it .   Andy

Some members of the SQL CAT Team just released an Operations Guide for SQL 2008 R2 Analysis Services that can be found here. While I am not a SSAS person by any means this looks pretty cool and worth while for anyone who does work with it so have a look. Andrew J. Kelly

I read a lot. I mean a LOT. It seems that computer professionals have much in common with medical professionals – we have to read in order to stay on top of our game. For me, this used to mean web sites, magazines, and other print medium, and of course lots of books. I’ve even written several computer books myself and had them published. ...

Most mature development shops use various code diagrams to give a symbolic representation of high-level and database code structures. Standards such as Business Process Model Notation (BPMN), Entity Relationship Diagrams (ERD) and the Unified Modeling Language (UML) are a few I use all the time. In the Distributed Computing (Cloud Computing) ...