Database Management Articles
Changes to database structures should be performed in a coordinated fashion as the application processes that support the new functionality are rolled out into production. While the "work" involved in adding a column or a table to a relational database is actually minimal, often there are circumstances where developers and DBAs create additional columns and additional tables in anticipation of future needs. Sadly, this "proactive" effort results in databases littered with half-formed ideas, fits-and-starts, and scattered-about columns and tables that provide no meaningful content.
Posted November 13, 2013
There was an interesting new vibe at Professional Association for SQL Server (PASS) Summit 2013. There was a very strong positive energy permeating the place and a noticeable uptick in positive interactions among attendees. In broader technical news, Microsoft unveiled a couple of powerful new features that had been hidden even in the closed previews and also announced the availability of SQL Server 2014 Community Technology Preview (CTP) 2.
Posted November 13, 2013
The number of databases continues to grow, but evolution tells us that not all may survive. Through the natural selection of most useful traits, intensifying the most crucial features, and implementing the best of both, databases will continue to flourish in new remarkable ways, helping organizations achieve specialized goals unique to their business. Here's a look at where the evolutionary path of the data center could take us in the coming years.
Posted November 13, 2013
The database as a service (DBaaS) delivery model has started to take hold in IT, according to a new research report that provides information for IT managers and decision makers who are facing increasing data volumes coupled with greater demand for database services. According to the report, nearly two-fifths of enterprises have or are considering running database functions within a private cloud.
Posted November 06, 2013
To support customers taking advantage of the multitenant architecture for pluggable databases available with Oracle Database 12c, Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c has added new automation capabilities to enable quick provisioning of database clouds through self-service
Posted November 06, 2013
Clustrix, a provider of a scale-out SQL database engineered for the cloud, has just released ClustrixDB as a software download. The software enables companies to perform complex analytic at the same time as high transaction volumes on the same database with the need for an additional analytic database.
Posted October 31, 2013
SAS and SAP have formed a strategic partnership to create a joint technology and product roadmap that will leverage the SAP HANA platform and SAS analytics capabilities. The companies will target target business areas that require a combination of advanced analytics running on an in-memory platform.
Posted October 24, 2013
SAP is advancing HANA on three fronts, all aimed at improving the overall experience with the platform. The enhancements include a more visually appealing and intuitive user experience, powerful new features, and simplified cloud-based deployment.
Posted October 24, 2013
SolarWinds, a provider of IT management software, has acquired Confio Software, which provides database performance management software. The Boulder, Colorado-based software company was purchased for $103 million in cash. Confio's flagship product, Confio Ignite, improves software development and service delivery for systems based on Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, IBM DB2, and SAP Sybase databases, running on VMware virtual servers as well as physical servers.
Posted October 24, 2013
Clustrix, provider of a scale-out SQL database engineered for the cloud, has been granted two new patents for systems and methods for redistributing and slicing data in relational databases from the United States Patent and Trademark Office. "For years, people have been trying to figure out how to take a relational database and make sure that you can use it across multiple distributed servers and get linear, better performance and that is at essence of what these patents do," said Robin Purohit, CEO, Clustrix in an interview.
Posted October 23, 2013
Datical, Inc. has emerged from stealth mode and introduced Datical DB which uses a patent-pending, data model approach for automating, simplifying and managing database schema change, configuration and complex dependencies as part of the application release process. The solution provides a graphical user interface and wizards for creating a model of schema from an existing database which can be simultaneously migrated to any environment and database such as Oracle, DB2, MySQL, SQL Server, and Postgres.
Posted October 23, 2013
Splice Machine, provider of a real-time transactional SQL-on-Hadoop database designed for big data applications, has launched a Limited Release program and is seeking 50 evaluators to validate authentic use cases, test SQL coverage and benchmark performance.
Posted October 23, 2013
Calpont Corporation, a provider of high-performance analytic data platforms, has announced InfiniDB 4.0 and InfiniDB for the Cloud. In addition, the core product will be available under the General Public License version 2.0 to enable more users to have access to its MPP, column-oriented data technology.
Posted October 22, 2013
At the PASS Summit, Dell Software introduced new tools for SQL Server database management and monitoring. The new releases included Spotlight on SQL Server Enterprise 10.0, a SQL Server database monitoring tool; two new Spotlight products available for download at no charge; and Toad for SQL Server 6, a performance tuning tool for SQL Server.
Posted October 18, 2013
Oracle has released new versions of its data integration products - Oracle Data Integrator and Oracle GoldenGate - with features designed to enhance performance, increase productivity and streamline deployment. Brad Adelberg, vice president of development, Oracle, talks about the key new features in Oracle Data Integrator 12c and Oracle GoldenGate 12c.
Posted October 17, 2013
NuoDB, a provider of distributed database technology, today announced the general availability of NuoDB 'Blackbirds' Release 2.0. NuoDB targeted four key areas for improvement in this release, Seth Proctor, CTO, NuoDB, said in an interview.
Posted October 16, 2013
A successful DBA must understand application development and the issues involved in programming and design. Here are some things that every DBA must know about application development and the design projects of their organization.
Posted October 09, 2013
To augment its product and service offerings both within and outside of the cloud, TransLattice, a provider of a geographically distributed database management system for enterprise, cloud and hybrid environments, has acquired Red Bank, NJ-based StormDB, Inc. The StormDB database is based on PostgreSQL, and TransLattice expects to incorporate proprietary StormDB capabilities and elements of the open source Postgres-XC into the TransLattice Elastic Database.
Posted October 09, 2013
Percona Server 5.6, based on MySQL 5.6 Community Edition, is now generally available. Percona says the latest version of Percona Server offers all the improvements found in MySQL Community Edition as well as additional features for enhanced scalability, availability, backup, and security features found in the enterprise edition. The free download of Percona Server 5.6 also includes new diagnostics and improved integration with other Percona software.
Posted October 08, 2013
Oracle CEO Larry Ellison made three key announcements in his opening keynote at Oracle OpenWorld, the company's annual conference for customers and partners in San Francisco. Ellison unveiled the Oracle Database In-Memory Option to Oracle Database 12c which he said speeds up query processing by "orders of magnitude," the M6 Big Memory Machine, and the new Oracle Database Backup Logging Recovery Appliance. Explaining Oracle's goals with the new in-memory option, Ellison noted that in the past there have been row-format databases, and column-format databases that are intended to speed up query processing. "We had a better idea. What if we store data in both formats simultaneously?"
Posted October 02, 2013
In a tightly contested match for the three seats up for election on the PASS Board of Directors, members of the Professional Association for SQL Server selected directors for two new regional seats and an open seat for the 2014/2015 term. This year, the PASS Board converted two seats to regional director-at-large seats, designating one for EMEA to bring more international perspective as PASS continues to grow globally and one for the US/Canada. An open director-at-large seat, without regional restrictions, was also up for election.
Posted October 02, 2013
Tokutek, a provider of big data performance solutions, has introduced TokuMX Enterprise Edition with hot backup. This new edition is designed to eliminate backup-related downtime for non-stop big data applications. TokuMX is an open source database and a performance engine for MongoDB. TokuMX delivers support for ACID transactions without any changes to an application, 20x performance improvements and, on the compression side, a 90% reduction in database size. When databases get extremely large, this is a significant money saver, explained Coco Jaenicke, vice president of marketing, Tokutek, in an interview.
Posted October 01, 2013
Revolution Analytics, which provides production-grade analytics software built upon the open source R statistics language, and Teradata, a provider of analytic data solutions, recently announced that as a result of a deepened partnership, Teradata is now offering in-database R Analytics that are fully parallel and scalable. David Smith, Revolution Analytics' vice president of marketing and community, talks about what's ahead for the companies' joint customers.
Posted September 30, 2013
Featuring a multi-tenant architecture that streamlines the process of consolidating databases onto the cloud and enables organizations to manage many databases as one, Oracle Database 12c is a next-generation database. To avoid confusion, however, here are 10 things that Oracle Database 12c is not.
Posted September 24, 2013
Oracle holds an enviable position in the IT marketplace with a wide array of database systems, development tools, languages, platforms, enterprise applications, and servers. Riding the coattails of this industry giant is a healthy and far-flung ecosystem of software developers, integrators, consultants, and OEMs. These are the partners that will help make or break Oracle's struggle with new forces disrupting the very foundations of IT. And lately, Oracle—long known for its own brand of xenophobia and disdain for direct competitors—has been making a lot of waves by forging new alliances with old foes. This is opening up potentially lucrative new frontiers for business partners at all levels.
Posted September 16, 2013
Database management systems support numerous unique date and time functions - and while the date-related functions are many, they do not go far enough. One date-driven circumstance often encountered has to do with objects having a type of date range that needs to be associated with it. While there are some exceptions, this date range need generally ends up implemented via two distinct date columns—one signaling the "start" and the other designating the "end." Maybe, should the creative juices of DBMS builders' flow, such things as numeric-range-datatypes could be created in addition to a date-range data-type. Who knows where things could end up?
Posted September 11, 2013
Many of the new features coming in SQL Server 2014, now available in Community Technology Preview, are encapsulated within broader and rather intuitive categories. The major categories for new features in SQL Server 2014 are Mission-Critical Performance Enhancements, Business Intelligence Insights, and Hybrid Cloud Enhancements. In addition, one of the interesting knock-on effects of retooling SQL Server to run in the cloud is that the code has tightened up a lot.
Posted September 11, 2013
DBAs need to make many different types of changes to a database over its lifetime. Some will be simple and easy to implement, others much more difficult and complex. It is the DBA's job to understand the best way to implement any type of database change, but often, simple changes become more difficult in the real world. Database change management tools help to make this job easier and is one of the first tools acquired by many organizations when they implement a database of any size.
Posted September 11, 2013
Oracle has introduced its latest ZFS Storage Appliances, the ZS3 Series, aimed at enabling customers to improve operational efficiencies, reduce data center costs, and increase business application performance.
Posted September 11, 2013
EnterpriseDB, provider of enterprise-class PostgreSQL products and Oracle database compatibility solutions, has formed a partnership with Zmanda, a provider of open source and cloud backup solutions. Through the partnership, Zmanda has created and certified a NetBackup agent for EnterpriseDB's flagship Postgres Plus Advanced Server.
Posted September 10, 2013
The PostgreSQL Global Development Group has announced the release of the open source relational database system PostgreSQL 9.3 which expands PostgreSQL's reliability, availability, as well as its ability to integrate with other databases.
Posted September 10, 2013
Confio Software, which offers the Ignite line of database performance monitoring tools, has secured the Certificate of Networthiness (CoN) from the United States Department of Defense. Confio's CoN applies to all Ignite solutions for Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, VMware, DB2 and Sybase.
Posted September 10, 2013
Raima, a provider of database management system technology for both in-memory database usage and persistent storage devices, has announced the availability of Raima Database Manager (RDM) version 12.0, optimized for embedded, real-time, in memory and mobile applications.
Posted September 03, 2013
SAP AG introduced new high availability and disaster recovery functionality with SAP Sybase Replication Server for SAP Business Suite software running on SAP Sybase Adaptive Server Enterprise (SAP Sybase ASE). "After only a year and a quarter supporting the Business Suite, ASE has already garnered about 2,000 customer installations. This easily provides that near zero-downtime for HA/DR that is non-intrusive to the system using Replication Server as the key enabling technology," said Dan Lahl, vice president, Database Product Marketing, SAP, in an interview.
Posted August 31, 2013
SAP has launched Sybase ASE (Adaptive Server Enterprise) 15.7 service pack 100 (SP100) to provide higher performance and scalability as well as improved monitoring and diagnostic capabilities for very large database environments. "The new release adds features in three areas to drive transactional environments to even more extreme levels. We really see ASE moving increasingly into extreme transactions and to do that we have organized the feature set around the three areas," said Dan Lahl, vice president, Database Product Marketing, SAP, in an interview with 5 Minute Briefing.
Posted August 31, 2013
To help developers and administrators better manage their dynamic data environments, Oracle has released MySQL Workbench 6.0. MySQL Workbench is a unified visual tool that provides data modeling, SQL development, and comprehensive administration for server configuration, user administration, and migration. The new release is a major update that addresses over 200 inputs and requests from the community and is intended to make it easier for administrators and developers to design, develop, and manage their MySQL databases.
Posted August 21, 2013
GenieDB has announced the launch of the GenieDB Globally Distributed MySQL-as-a-Service. The DBaaS offering allows organizations to take advantage of GenieDB's automated platform to build web-scale applications that gain the benefits of geographical database distribution, continuous availability during regional outages, and better application response time for globally distributed users.
Posted August 20, 2013
NuoDB has announced the last release of its current product version and a technology preview of some upcoming second-generation features available later in 2013. The preview is contained in the free download of the new NuoDB Starlings Release 1.2. The NewSQL approach is gaining greater acceptance, said Barry Morris, founder and CEO of NuoDB, in an interview. "What people are saying back to us is that they are getting all of the features of NoSQL without throwing SQL or transactions away. And that concept is becoming the popular notion of what NewSQL is."
Posted August 13, 2013