Or SSIS 2012? SSRS 2012? SSAS 2012? There’s no substitute for getting your hands on the product, in my opinion. I can hear you thinking, “But Andy, I can’t afford to purchase a copy of SQL Server 2012.” Are you sure? What if I told you that you can get a full-feature version of SQL Server 2012 Enterprise Edition for $50? Well, you cannot… it’s ...

SQL Server 2012 Integration Services Design Patterns has been released! The book is done and available thanks to the hard work and dedication of a great crew: Michelle Ufford (Blog | @sqlfool) – co-author Jessica M. Moss (Blog | @jessicammoss) – co-author Tim Mitchell (Blog | @tim_mitchell) – co-author Matt Masson (Blog | ...

I am installing SQL Server 2012 Evaluation Edition on a virtual machine as I type. You can do this. Here’s one way: Grab some virtual machine software. I like Oracle VirtualBox. It’s cool. It’s free. Install VirtualBox. Download the 180-day free trial of Windows Server 2008 R2. Also cool. Also free. Once Windows ...

CozyRoc announces the release of the SSIS+ 1.6 Beta 1 Library. I installed this on my SQL Server 2012 RC virtual machine and have started testing. So far, I like it! :{>

I’m very happy to announce that my proposal for the Spotlight session I’ve been invited to deliver at PASS 2011 has been accepted! Temporal Snapshot Fact Table You are designing a BI Solution and your customer ask you to keep a snapshot of the status of all their documents (orders, insurances, contracts, bills...whatever the word ...

SQLRally The SQLRally team has been working overtime and you can now vote on the pre-conference session you'd most like to see. What a great idea. This is a much better way to select pre-cons. This way, the SQL Server Community wins. I submitted a pre-conference session called A Day of SSIS. You can cast your vote here. A Day of ...

If you’re still unsure if the workshop I’ll deliver at PASS Summit the next November - “Creating a BI solution from A to Z” - is a good choice for you or not, you can get some more details reading the brief interview here: PASS Summit Post-Con Preview - Davide Mauri Where you’ll find answers to the following questions: Is there an audience ...

I am honored to present SSIS Design Patterns 1b: Incremental Loads and Parent-Child Patterns at SQLLunch today beginning at 12:30 PM EDT! This is part two of a three part series. (UPDATED)In this presentation, I walk through Incremental Load and Parent-Child SSIS design pattern basics. I also include a discussion of Change Detection in ETL. Hope ...

PASS Summit 2010 Pre & Post conference are out! This year I’ll deliver the “Creating BI Solution from A to Z” seminar in which, as the title implies, attendees will see how to create a BI solution starting from scratch. Going through the dimensional modeling and the creation of the Datawarehouse, the implementation of the ETL process with ...

Introduction SSIS is case-sensitive even if the database is case-insensitive. Imagine...  ... you work in an ETL shop where someone who believes in natural keys won the Battle of the Joins. Imagine one of your natural keys is a string. (I know it's a stretch... play along!). Let's build some tables to sketch it out. If you do ...