Comments for Michael J. Swart http://michaeljswart.com Database Whisperer Wed, 16 May 2012 15:13:30 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 Comment on Lessons From Geordi La Forge by Elise http://michaeljswart.com/2012/05/lessons-from-geordi-la-forge/comment-page-1/#comment-6910 Elise Wed, 16 May 2012 15:13:30 +0000 http://michaeljswart.com/?p=2787#comment-6910 Love this line. "If Geordi can accomplish a task, he essentially takes the credit with “I can do this." If he can’t accomplish the task, then his words imply “It can’t be done.” He never implies that his skills are lacking." I'm implementing this into my life motto: If I can't do it, it can't be done. Love this line.
“If Geordi can accomplish a task, he essentially takes the credit with “I can do this.” If he can’t accomplish the task, then his words imply “It can’t be done.” He never implies that his skills are lacking.”
I’m implementing this into my life motto: If I can’t do it, it can’t be done.

]]> Comment on Be Quick About Reading The Data You Asked For by Michael J. Swart http://michaeljswart.com/2011/11/be-quick-about-reading-the-data-you-asked-for/comment-page-1/#comment-6908 Michael J. Swart Mon, 14 May 2012 19:42:42 +0000 http://michaeljswart.com/?p=2268#comment-6908 That's great to hear Meredith! This post actually grew out of a similar need to explain the same behavior. Glad I could help! That’s great to hear Meredith! This post actually grew out of a similar need to explain the same behavior. Glad I could help!

]]> Comment on Be Quick About Reading The Data You Asked For by Meredith Ryan http://michaeljswart.com/2011/11/be-quick-about-reading-the-data-you-asked-for/comment-page-1/#comment-6907 Meredith Ryan Mon, 14 May 2012 19:36:52 +0000 http://michaeljswart.com/?p=2268#comment-6907 Hi ya! I just wanted to thank you for this post. I'm dealing with a tricky 3rd party application upgrade showing many performance issues and this post made it very easy to explain to the vendor what I was seeing on the database side. so, thanks! Hi ya! I just wanted to thank you for this post. I’m dealing with a tricky 3rd party application upgrade showing many performance issues and this post made it very easy to explain to the vendor what I was seeing on the database side.

so, thanks!

]]> Comment on Lessons From Geordi La Forge by Michael J. Swart http://michaeljswart.com/2012/05/lessons-from-geordi-la-forge/comment-page-1/#comment-6905 Michael J. Swart Mon, 14 May 2012 19:20:19 +0000 http://michaeljswart.com/?p=2787#comment-6905 Excellent Chuck, In that Geordi says something like "We can't do that, the spec says the tank can't handle the pressure". Scotty basically says "Forget it, I wrote the spec, it'll work". A real life (SQL!) example is blogged by Paul Randal here: <a href="http://www.sqlskills.com/BLOGS/PAUL/post/Where-do-the-Books-Online-index-fragmentation-thresholds-come-from.aspx" rel="nofollow">here</a>. In it, Paul talks about some threshold specified in Microsoft documentation and how to take that number with a grain of salt because Microsoft needed a number for the docs and he gave them a reasonable threshold (if a bit arbitrary). Excellent Chuck, In that Geordi says something like “We can’t do that, the spec says the tank can’t handle the pressure”. Scotty basically says “Forget it, I wrote the spec, it’ll work”.

A real life (SQL!) example is blogged by Paul Randal here: here. In it, Paul talks about some threshold specified in Microsoft documentation and how to take that number with a grain of salt because Microsoft needed a number for the docs and he gave them a reasonable threshold (if a bit arbitrary).

]]> Comment on Lessons From Geordi La Forge by Chuck Rummel http://michaeljswart.com/2012/05/lessons-from-geordi-la-forge/comment-page-1/#comment-6904 Chuck Rummel Mon, 14 May 2012 19:14:07 +0000 http://michaeljswart.com/?p=2787#comment-6904 The Scotty & LaForge dialogue was some of my favorite. My second favorite quote from that is http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0708764/quotes?qt=qt0349438 The Scotty & LaForge dialogue was some of my favorite. My second favorite quote from that is http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0708764/quotes?qt=qt0349438

]]> Comment on Lessons From Geordi La Forge by Michael J. Swart http://michaeljswart.com/2012/05/lessons-from-geordi-la-forge/comment-page-1/#comment-6903 Michael J. Swart Mon, 14 May 2012 15:56:51 +0000 http://michaeljswart.com/?p=2787#comment-6903 LA FORGE: Yeah, well, I told the Captain I'd have this analysis done in an hour. SCOTTY: How long will it really take? LA FORGE: An hour! SCOTTY: Oh, you didn't tell him how long it would *really* take, did ya? LA FORGE: Well, of course I did. SCOTTY: Oh, laddie. You've got a lot to learn if you want people to think of you as a miracle worker. LA FORGE: Yeah, well, I told the Captain I’d have this analysis done in an hour.
SCOTTY: How long will it really take?
LA FORGE: An hour!
SCOTTY: Oh, you didn’t tell him how long it would *really* take, did ya?
LA FORGE: Well, of course I did.
SCOTTY: Oh, laddie. You’ve got a lot to learn if you want people to think of you as a miracle worker.

]]> Comment on Lessons From Geordi La Forge by Michael J. Swart http://michaeljswart.com/2012/05/lessons-from-geordi-la-forge/comment-page-1/#comment-6902 Michael J. Swart Mon, 14 May 2012 15:56:42 +0000 http://michaeljswart.com/?p=2787#comment-6902 WESLEY: He wants the impossible! LA FORGE: That's the short definition of 'captain'. WESLEY: He wants the impossible!
LA FORGE: That’s the short definition of ‘captain’.

]]> Comment on Modifying Tables Online – Part 1: Migration Strategy by Lessons From Geordi La Forge | Michael J. Swart http://michaeljswart.com/2012/04/modifying-tables-online-part-1-migration-strategy/comment-page-1/#comment-6901 Lessons From Geordi La Forge | Michael J. Swart Mon, 14 May 2012 15:56:27 +0000 http://michaeljswart.com/?p=2665#comment-6901 [...] But it turns out there was a way; it just took a lot of effort (I blogged about that effort in this series). It’s the yellow shirt’s job to explain the “how” and “what” [...] [...] But it turns out there was a way; it just took a lot of effort (I blogged about that effort in this series). It’s the yellow shirt’s job to explain the “how” and “what” [...]

]]> Comment on Transaction Phenomena – Part 1: The Dirty Read by Eric Russell http://michaeljswart.com/2010/03/transaction-phenomena-part-1-dirty-reads/comment-page-1/#comment-6862 Eric Russell Fri, 04 May 2012 20:49:57 +0000 http://michaeljswart.com/?p=604#comment-6862 In addition to the obvious issue of returning inconsistent data in a resultset that NOLOCK (READ UNCOMMITTED) presents, other less commonly known issues are transient 601 and 605 errors that can occur when reading from data pages that have split and moved before the statement has completed. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb326281(v=sql.105).aspx http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa337419(v=sql.105).aspx A data reading process under read uncommitted isolation can run for 1/2 hour or more, only to bomb out with an error, because another data writing process has moved a page out from under it. For critical ETL processes, it might be better just to allow occasional blocking than to deal with aborted steps. In addition to the obvious issue of returning inconsistent data in a resultset that NOLOCK (READ UNCOMMITTED) presents, other less commonly known issues are transient 601 and 605 errors that can occur when reading from data pages that have split and moved before the statement has completed.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb326281(v=sql.105).aspx
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa337419(v=sql.105).aspx
A data reading process under read uncommitted isolation can run for 1/2 hour or more, only to bomb out with an error, because another data writing process has moved a page out from under it. For critical ETL processes, it might be better just to allow occasional blocking than to deal with aborted steps.

]]> Comment on Modifying Tables Online – Part 5: Just One More Thing by Something for the Weekend - SQL Server Links 04/05/12 http://michaeljswart.com/2012/04/modifying-tables-online-part-5-just-one-more-thing/comment-page-1/#comment-6861 Something for the Weekend - SQL Server Links 04/05/12 Fri, 04 May 2012 11:23:22 +0000 http://michaeljswart.com/?p=2757#comment-6861 [...] Modifying Tables Online – Part 5: Just One More Thing - A bonus post concludes the final part of this excellent series from Michael J. Swart (Blog|Twitter). [...] [...] Modifying Tables Online – Part 5: Just One More Thing - A bonus post concludes the final part of this excellent series from Michael J. Swart (Blog|Twitter). [...]

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