Announcement: 28

Data Mining announcements

SQL Server Reporting Services, Power View announcements

SQL Server Analysis Services announcements

.NET Framework inside SQL Server announcements

SQL Server Replication announcements

SQL Server Setup & Upgrade announcements

SQL Server Notification Services announcements

SQL Server Compact announcements

SQL Server Express announcements

SQL Server Samples and Community Projects announcements

  • Link
    How to Use this Forum - Please Read Before Posting
    Mr. Wharty

    Welcome to the SQL Server Samples and Community Projects Forum.

    This forum is the place to discuss all things "samplish" in the SQL Server community and samples space, whether it's an "official Microsoft sample" or a community project in CodePlex or Code Gallery. This is*not* the place to discussion specific nuances of T-SQL syntax or wage data modeling methodology wars: there are lots of other forums for those purposes. This one is for questions about samples, community projects and conversations between the collaborators that build them.

    Some examples of projects that are open for discussion can be found here: http://www.codeplex.com/SqlServerSamples. It doesn't have to be listed there to be fair game, but it's a good bet that it is fair game if it's already listed there.

    Below are a few guidelines to help you find your answer quickly and also to help the people who answer the questions, answer yours correctly.

    • Is your question about SQL Server Samples and Community Projects . If it's not please locate the correct forum otherwise your question may be moved, closed/locked or deleted.
    • Try searching the forum . Search the forum to see if your question has been asked before and answered.  If you cannot find what you are looking for, please start a new thread rather than adding to an old one as some people do not see answered questions in their forum views so you may not get the assistance you're looking for.
    • Don't be brief . The more information you can give in your question, the better the response will be.
    • Check your alerts . You can subscribe to a question so that you can see any update on it (ReferSetting up your alerts below).
    • No Spam. Spamming will have your thread deleted and may also result in your account being banned.
    • Be polite.  You will get better assistance if you're polite to other members so no flaming or trolling.  If you persist with flaming or trolling, your accountmay get banned.
    • Mark your question answered. If someone answers your question please mark their reply as the answer to your question. You can also mark multiple replies as answers if you think they answered your question.  Marking replies not only assists others with similar questions, it also let's people know that you're grateful for their assistance.

    Dead thread/Answer policy.

    Where possible the moderators will allow sufficient time for the original poster to come back and mark the replies to their questions as answers. The amount of time is at the discretion of the individual moderator but is suggested that it will be declared dead after a week if the original poster does not respond . We will always try to be fair and mark suitable replies as answers.

    Setting up your alerts

    If you are having trouble receiving alerts on the threads you have created or replied to please see thisthread for troubleshooting advice.

  • Link
    Samples bugs and suggestions.
    David Reed (Glacier Peak)
    All of the work items for our community projects and product samples are in TFS on CodePlex. If you want to report a bug, suggest a change for an existing sample or suggest a new sample, create a work item in the appropriate project so that our community team (not just Microsoft employees) can vote on them, help us triage and prioritize them.

    For example, here's the URL for the work items for AdventureWorks: http://www.codeplex.com/MSFTDBProdSamples/WorkItem/AdvancedList.aspx
  • Link
    Welcome aboard! Community & Samples Forum Intro
    David Reed (Glacier Peak)

    This forum is the place to discuss all things "samplish" in the SQL Server community and samples space, whether it's an "official Microsoft sample" or a community project in CodePlex or Code Gallery. This is *not* the place to discussion specific nuances of T-SQL syntax or wage data modeling methodology wars: there are lots of other forums for those purposes. This one is for questions about samples, community projects and conversations between the collaborators that build them.

     

    Some examples of projects that are open for discussion can be found here: http://www.codeplex.com/SqlServerSamples/ It doesn't have to be listed there to be fair game, but it's a good bet that it is fair game if it's already listed there.

     

    Also, please post your project announcements here when you create a new release or a whole new project. If you're looking for people to work on your project or looking for a project to work on, this would be a good place to do both.

     

    Let us know what's missing, let know what could be better and let us know what we're doing right!

Database Design announcements

  • Link
    Database Design Resources
    Arnie Rowland

    The following list of database design resources is not intended to be exhaustive or ‘the correct list’. Items are included simply because one of the Moderators knew the material and offered it as a suggestion. If you wish to offer suggestions for inclusion, please do so.

     

    Books

     

    A Developer's Guide to Data Modeling for SQL Server: Covering SQL Server 2005 and 2008

    Eric Johnson and Joshua Jones

    An Introduction to Database Systems

    Chris Date

    Applied Mathematics for Database Professionals

    Lex de Haan, Toon Koppelaars

    Architecting Regulatory-Compliant Architectures
    Mike Walker, Microsoft

    Data Modeling Essential

    Graeme Simsion and Graham Witt

    Database Modeling and Design: Logical Design

    Toby Teorey

    Information Modeling and Relational Databases

    Terry Halpin

    Practical Issues in Database Management: A Reference for the Thinking Practitioner

    Fabian Pascal

    Pro SQL Server 2008 Relational Database Design and Implementation

    Louis Davidson, Kevin Kline, et al

     

    Online Resources

     

    A Simple Guide to Five Normal forms and Relational Database Theory
    http://www.bkent.net/Doc/simple5.htm

    Data Modeling vs. Database Design
    http://www.aisintl.com/case/library/R-Theory_vs_ER/r-theory_vs_er.html

    Data Models
    http://www.databaseanswers.org/data_models/index.htm

    Database Design - Ten Common Database Design Mistakes, Louis Davidson
    http://www.simple-talk.com/sql/database-administration/ten-common-database-design-mistakes/

    Database Design Issues -EAV Model Discussion (Querying an EAV Table)
    http://tinyurl.com/yks8hu

    Database Design Issues –EAV and OTLT
    http://tonyandrews.blogspot.com/2004/10/otlt-and-eav-two-big-design-mistakes.html

    Database Design ROI by Paul Nielsen
    http://www.sqlserverbible.com/files/databasedesignroi.pdf

    Introduction to the Unified Dimensional Model (UDM)
    http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms345143(SQL.90).aspx

    Library of database models
    http://www.databaseanswers.org/data_models/

    On Normalization and Repeating Groups by Fabian Pascal
    http://www.dbdebunk.com/page/page/622318.htm

    ORM white paper
    http://www.orm.net/pdf/ORMwhitePaper.pdf

    Overview of the Relational Model
    http://www.utexas.edu/its/archive/windows/database/datamodeling/rm/overview.html   

    Understanding Data Model Quality, Graeme Simsion
    http://www.tdan.com/view-articles/5100

     

  • Link
    Please READ before Posting or Replying to Posts
    Arnie Rowland

     


    Out of Scope
     

    Some topics are out of scope for this forum.

    1. Bugs, Product Decisions, and Feedback: The purpose of this forum is not to ask the product team why decisions were made and to ask them to make other changes. That feedback belongs in Connect. The purpose of this forum is to help you out with specific issues, if possible. Please post your feedback via Connect:

    https://connect.microsoft.com/SQLServer

      

    Rules of Conduct

    ·         Relevance to Topics: We encourage you to keep your postings as close to the subject as possible.

    ·         Respect: Please be respectful of other participants, and their contributions; avoiding insults, demeaning remarks and slurs.

    ·         Tolerance: Please don’t assume someone’s curtness was meant to insult, slur, or demean you.

    ·         Confidentiality: Confidential information should not be posted. This is a publicly available forum.

    ·         Appropriate Language: Please keep the conversation on a professional level, avoiding any hint of profanity in your interactions.

    ·         Advertising/Solicitation: Advertisements should not be posted, and will be removed.

    Forum Moderators may, at their discretion, edit posts for clarity, readability and inappropriate language; split post into separate threads when appropriate; and delete post that do not positively contribute to the thread. Failure to comply with these 'Rules of Conduct' may result in your posts being edited to remove the offending comments, censure, or expulsion from participating in the Forums. The bottom line is: this Forum should feel like a ‘safe’ place to ask hard questions that invoke passionate responses.

    Marking Answers

    By their very nature, many database design questions will not have a easily decernible 'answer'. You are encouraged to give folks 'credit' for helping you when appropriate. If someone's response was 'Helpful', use the 'Vote as Helpful' button. If a response answered some part of your question, or provided you one or more clues that led you to a solution, then use the 'Mark as Answer' option. Just as a thread may evolve into multiple questions, it may also have more than one 'Answer'.

    Welcome to the Database Design Forum

    This is a Forum for questions and discussions about database designs for Microsoft technologies, including: SQL Server, Access, SQL Azure, SQL Express, SQL Compact, etc. Often Database Designs will be generic and can be ported to any vendor's technology. Design problems that are best solved with other technologies will be welcomed and addressed to the best of our knowledge and ability.

    We ask that you recognize that database design is a mixture of art and science. You may receive conflicting suggestions, for there can be multiple paths to a workable solution. You will have to use your own judgment and knowledge of your business requirements to determine the best solution for your particular problem. The 'right' design is compounded by many factors, including business, regulatory, hardware/software requirements, as well as staff expertise. We also encourage you to share your experiences with a particular design issue if it will serve to help others encountering similar problems.

    In order to receive useful responses, please spend some time and properly present your scenario. Attempts to 'save time and effort' by cutting out parts of the scenario will often lead to wasted time and effort as the suggestions have to be discarded because they don't work with other parts of the unseen puzzle.


    But there are limits to what you can expect from volunteers through a disconnected medium. The questions most likely to receive a good and targeted answer, are those that present a small problem, that give a very clear description of that problem within its context, and that are placed by people with a fair understanding of the subject who need help getting over a few nasty bumps. The questions that are almost impossible to answer satisfactorily are those that present a huge problem, with no clear description, and asked by someone totally new to the subject matter.

    We hope that you will understand when we say that most of us that volunteer our time on this Forum do so in order to help folks learn. We will be pleased if you find the Forum to be useful. However, it is difficult or impossible for us to engage with folks privately. We don't have time to do both, and our commitment is help folks using the Forums.

    Do not hesitate to read all of the threads, join in the discussions, offer your own experiences and information, and ask questions to increase your knowlege. Seek out blogs from those who write in a manner that you appreciate, and consider reviewing the Database Design Resources for additional guidance and help.

     

SQL Server Migration announcements

  • Link
    Welcome to the SQL Server Migration forum
    Keshav Ramarao

    Need help with migration to SQL Server? Have any questions related to SQL Server Migration Assistant (SSMA) products for Oracle/Sybase/MySQL/Access? Feel free to discuss any SQL Server migration related topics or post any questions related to SSMA.

SQL Server Master Data Services announcements

  • Link
    SQL16 CTP2.3 is available for download
    Sherry_Li

    We are excited to share the new features which shipped in SQL CTP2.3 public release.  You can download the product here:http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=48726, and Excel add-in here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=47343

    In this monthly release, we added a few highly asked features.  Please give it try and look forward to hearing your feedback.

    Manage Business Rules (MDS Add-in for Excel)

    In the Master Data Services Add-in for Excel you can manage Business Rules, such as creating and editing business rules. Business rules are used to validate data. For more information, see Manage Business Rules (MDS Add-in for Excel).

    Many-to-Many Relationships in Derived Hierarchies

    You can now create a Derived Hierarchy that displays  many-to-many relationships. A many-to-many relationship between two entities may be modeled through the use of a third entity that provides a mapping between them. The mapping entity is an entity that has two or more domain-based attributes referencing other entities.

    For example, entity M has a domain-based attribute that references A and a domain-based attribute that references B. You can create a hierarchy from A to B using the mapping entity.

    For more information, see Show Many-to-Many Relationships in Derived Hierarchies (Master Data Services)

    Merge Conflicts

    If you try to publish data that has been changed by another user, the publish will fail with a conflict error. To resolve this error, you can perform merge conflicts and republish the changes. For more information, see Merge Conflicts (Master Data Services) and Merge Conflicts (MDS Add-in for Excel). 

     SQL Master Data Services Team

  • Link
    Master Data Services SQL2016 CTP2.2(July) Release is public available
    Sherry_Li

    Please give it a try and let us know your feedback!

    SQL Server 2016 Community Technology Preview 2.2 is publicly released and the latest bits can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/evaluate-sql-server-2016

    In CTP2.2 MDS introduced following changes:

    1. Custom Indexes

    You can create a non-clustered index on one attribute (single index) or on a list of attributes (composite index), in an entity, to help improve the query performance. For more information, see Custom Index (Master Data Services).

    2. Entity Sync Relationship

    You can share entity data between different models by creating an entity sync relationship. For more information, see Entity Sync Relationship (Master Data Services).

    3. Member Revision History

    A member revision history is recorded when a member is changed. You can rollback a revision history, as well as view and annotate revisions. Using the Log Retention Days property, you can specify how long historical data is retained. For more information, see Member Revision History (Master Data Services).

  • Link
    New release on MDS Excel add-in available for download
    Sherry_Li

    Hi, we are pleasured to announce the release of MDS Excel add-in. You can download it here:

    http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=42298

    This release includes a number of performance improvements – most users will see a 4x improvement when loading data from an MDS server, without any additional server or environment changes. For an additional performance increase (2-4x), you can enable Dynamic Content Compression in IIS.

    It works with both SQL12 or SQL14.  The installation will be in place upgrade so the users don't need to uninstall previous installation.  All the MDS connections will be preserved through the installation. 

    Please download the new version of Excel add-in.  Your feedback is welcome!

    Thanks,

    SQL MDS Team

  • Link
    Please Indicate "Mark as Answer" if a Post has Answered the Question
    edhickey

    While reading a reply to your question, you will notice a button with an icon that says "Mark as Answer."   Please select this button when a reply answers your question.

     

    There are several reasons to do this:

     

    • Our search engine weights Answered questions more highly. By marking Answers you increase the chances that others searching this forum will find the answer directly rather than re-posting the question.
    • You give credit to the hard working folks who answer your questions. This is peer to peer support, so recognition is our only reward. (Check out the Top Answerers in 30 Days chart at the bottom of the thread list to see who is currently answering questions.)
    • You help Microsoft to track the health of this forum. Our forum gets 'measured' based on how many unanswered questions are in it at any time and we work hard to keep those numbers to as low a level as possible. By marking answers, others get a more accurate understanding of how well (or badly) things are going on the forum.

     

    You can also vote "Yes" or "No" if the reply was helpful.

     

    Thank you!

     

    Ed Hickey

Power Pivot announcements

  • Link
    Fix for PowerPivot November CTP Expiration Released
    Kathy MacDonald [MSFT]

    The PowerPivot team is pleased to report that the fix for the November CTP expiration issue has been released. We know many of you have been eagerly awaiting this fix since last week when the PowerPivot for Excel add-in expired. We do sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused you.

    We have released a new version of the November CTP for the PowerPivot for Excel add-in. This new version is functionally identical to the old one except that it extends the expiration date to end of the year. You can download it from the same locations as in the past:

    Please note that the new version will take some time to replicate across all servers in the Microsoft download center. If you download it from the above links and still get the expiration error message, then try again periodically. It might also help to clear any browser/download caches on your computer.

  • Link
    PowerPivot for Excel 2010 November CTP Expired
    Kathy MacDonald [MSFT]

    If you are running the November 2009 CTP version of the PowerPivot for Excel 2010 add-in, your add-in expired on April 1st. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you.

    The SQL Server team will re-release the November 2009 CTP version of the PowerPivot for Excel 2010 add-in with an extended expiration date very soon. We will post an availability announcement with the download location and installation instructions on the PowerPivot blogs and forums as soon as possible.

    Kathy MacDonald
    SQL Server Analysis Services

  • Link
    PowerPivot Beta will not work with released versions of Excel, Sharepoint 2010 and others. Pls read!!
    Vikram Jayaram


    Summary

    =============================

    If PowerPivot for Excel 2010, Excel 2010, SharePoint 2010, or the Reporting Services Addin for SharePoint 2010 are beta versions, PowerPivot and its related functionality will not work with the Released versions of these components.

     

    More Information

    =============================

    The beta versions of the components listed above are not compatible with the released versions of these components. If the beta versions of the components are installed, they will not function with the released versions. For example, if you have a beta version of the PowerPivot download installed and upgrade to the released version of Excel 2010, the PowerPivot addin will not be available in Excel.

     

    The solution is to upgrade the beta components to their released versions when they become available.

SQL Server PowerPivot for SharePoint announcements

Announcement: 28

Data Mining announcements

SQL Server Reporting Services, Power View announcements

SQL Server Analysis Services announcements

.NET Framework inside SQL Server announcements

SQL Server Replication announcements

SQL Server Setup & Upgrade announcements

SQL Server Notification Services announcements

SQL Server Compact announcements

SQL Server Express announcements

SQL Server Samples and Community Projects announcements

  • Link
    How to Use this Forum - Please Read Before Posting
    Mr. Wharty

    Welcome to the SQL Server Samples and Community Projects Forum.

    This forum is the place to discuss all things "samplish" in the SQL Server community and samples space, whether it's an "official Microsoft sample" or a community project in CodePlex or Code Gallery. This is*not* the place to discussion specific nuances of T-SQL syntax or wage data modeling methodology wars: there are lots of other forums for those purposes. This one is for questions about samples, community projects and conversations between the collaborators that build them.

    Some examples of projects that are open for discussion can be found here: http://www.codeplex.com/SqlServerSamples. It doesn't have to be listed there to be fair game, but it's a good bet that it is fair game if it's already listed there.

    Below are a few guidelines to help you find your answer quickly and also to help the people who answer the questions, answer yours correctly.

    • Is your question about SQL Server Samples and Community Projects . If it's not please locate the correct forum otherwise your question may be moved, closed/locked or deleted.
    • Try searching the forum . Search the forum to see if your question has been asked before and answered.  If you cannot find what you are looking for, please start a new thread rather than adding to an old one as some people do not see answered questions in their forum views so you may not get the assistance you're looking for.
    • Don't be brief . The more information you can give in your question, the better the response will be.
    • Check your alerts . You can subscribe to a question so that you can see any update on it (ReferSetting up your alerts below).
    • No Spam. Spamming will have your thread deleted and may also result in your account being banned.
    • Be polite.  You will get better assistance if you're polite to other members so no flaming or trolling.  If you persist with flaming or trolling, your accountmay get banned.
    • Mark your question answered. If someone answers your question please mark their reply as the answer to your question. You can also mark multiple replies as answers if you think they answered your question.  Marking replies not only assists others with similar questions, it also let's people know that you're grateful for their assistance.

    Dead thread/Answer policy.

    Where possible the moderators will allow sufficient time for the original poster to come back and mark the replies to their questions as answers. The amount of time is at the discretion of the individual moderator but is suggested that it will be declared dead after a week if the original poster does not respond . We will always try to be fair and mark suitable replies as answers.

    Setting up your alerts

    If you are having trouble receiving alerts on the threads you have created or replied to please see thisthread for troubleshooting advice.

  • Link
    Samples bugs and suggestions.
    David Reed (Glacier Peak)
    All of the work items for our community projects and product samples are in TFS on CodePlex. If you want to report a bug, suggest a change for an existing sample or suggest a new sample, create a work item in the appropriate project so that our community team (not just Microsoft employees) can vote on them, help us triage and prioritize them.

    For example, here's the URL for the work items for AdventureWorks: http://www.codeplex.com/MSFTDBProdSamples/WorkItem/AdvancedList.aspx
  • Link
    Welcome aboard! Community & Samples Forum Intro
    David Reed (Glacier Peak)

    This forum is the place to discuss all things "samplish" in the SQL Server community and samples space, whether it's an "official Microsoft sample" or a community project in CodePlex or Code Gallery. This is *not* the place to discussion specific nuances of T-SQL syntax or wage data modeling methodology wars: there are lots of other forums for those purposes. This one is for questions about samples, community projects and conversations between the collaborators that build them.

     

    Some examples of projects that are open for discussion can be found here: http://www.codeplex.com/SqlServerSamples/ It doesn't have to be listed there to be fair game, but it's a good bet that it is fair game if it's already listed there.

     

    Also, please post your project announcements here when you create a new release or a whole new project. If you're looking for people to work on your project or looking for a project to work on, this would be a good place to do both.

     

    Let us know what's missing, let know what could be better and let us know what we're doing right!

Database Design announcements

  • Link
    Database Design Resources
    Arnie Rowland

    The following list of database design resources is not intended to be exhaustive or ‘the correct list’. Items are included simply because one of the Moderators knew the material and offered it as a suggestion. If you wish to offer suggestions for inclusion, please do so.

     

    Books

     

    A Developer's Guide to Data Modeling for SQL Server: Covering SQL Server 2005 and 2008

    Eric Johnson and Joshua Jones

    An Introduction to Database Systems

    Chris Date

    Applied Mathematics for Database Professionals

    Lex de Haan, Toon Koppelaars

    Architecting Regulatory-Compliant Architectures
    Mike Walker, Microsoft

    Data Modeling Essential

    Graeme Simsion and Graham Witt

    Database Modeling and Design: Logical Design

    Toby Teorey

    Information Modeling and Relational Databases

    Terry Halpin

    Practical Issues in Database Management: A Reference for the Thinking Practitioner

    Fabian Pascal

    Pro SQL Server 2008 Relational Database Design and Implementation

    Louis Davidson, Kevin Kline, et al

     

    Online Resources

     

    A Simple Guide to Five Normal forms and Relational Database Theory
    http://www.bkent.net/Doc/simple5.htm

    Data Modeling vs. Database Design
    http://www.aisintl.com/case/library/R-Theory_vs_ER/r-theory_vs_er.html

    Data Models
    http://www.databaseanswers.org/data_models/index.htm

    Database Design - Ten Common Database Design Mistakes, Louis Davidson
    http://www.simple-talk.com/sql/database-administration/ten-common-database-design-mistakes/

    Database Design Issues -EAV Model Discussion (Querying an EAV Table)
    http://tinyurl.com/yks8hu

    Database Design Issues –EAV and OTLT
    http://tonyandrews.blogspot.com/2004/10/otlt-and-eav-two-big-design-mistakes.html

    Database Design ROI by Paul Nielsen
    http://www.sqlserverbible.com/files/databasedesignroi.pdf

    Introduction to the Unified Dimensional Model (UDM)
    http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms345143(SQL.90).aspx

    Library of database models
    http://www.databaseanswers.org/data_models/

    On Normalization and Repeating Groups by Fabian Pascal
    http://www.dbdebunk.com/page/page/622318.htm

    ORM white paper
    http://www.orm.net/pdf/ORMwhitePaper.pdf

    Overview of the Relational Model
    http://www.utexas.edu/its/archive/windows/database/datamodeling/rm/overview.html   

    Understanding Data Model Quality, Graeme Simsion
    http://www.tdan.com/view-articles/5100

     

  • Link
    Please READ before Posting or Replying to Posts
    Arnie Rowland

     


    Out of Scope
     

    Some topics are out of scope for this forum.

    1. Bugs, Product Decisions, and Feedback: The purpose of this forum is not to ask the product team why decisions were made and to ask them to make other changes. That feedback belongs in Connect. The purpose of this forum is to help you out with specific issues, if possible. Please post your feedback via Connect:

    https://connect.microsoft.com/SQLServer

      

    Rules of Conduct

    ·         Relevance to Topics: We encourage you to keep your postings as close to the subject as possible.

    ·         Respect: Please be respectful of other participants, and their contributions; avoiding insults, demeaning remarks and slurs.

    ·         Tolerance: Please don’t assume someone’s curtness was meant to insult, slur, or demean you.

    ·         Confidentiality: Confidential information should not be posted. This is a publicly available forum.

    ·         Appropriate Language: Please keep the conversation on a professional level, avoiding any hint of profanity in your interactions.

    ·         Advertising/Solicitation: Advertisements should not be posted, and will be removed.

    Forum Moderators may, at their discretion, edit posts for clarity, readability and inappropriate language; split post into separate threads when appropriate; and delete post that do not positively contribute to the thread. Failure to comply with these 'Rules of Conduct' may result in your posts being edited to remove the offending comments, censure, or expulsion from participating in the Forums. The bottom line is: this Forum should feel like a ‘safe’ place to ask hard questions that invoke passionate responses.

    Marking Answers

    By their very nature, many database design questions will not have a easily decernible 'answer'. You are encouraged to give folks 'credit' for helping you when appropriate. If someone's response was 'Helpful', use the 'Vote as Helpful' button. If a response answered some part of your question, or provided you one or more clues that led you to a solution, then use the 'Mark as Answer' option. Just as a thread may evolve into multiple questions, it may also have more than one 'Answer'.

    Welcome to the Database Design Forum

    This is a Forum for questions and discussions about database designs for Microsoft technologies, including: SQL Server, Access, SQL Azure, SQL Express, SQL Compact, etc. Often Database Designs will be generic and can be ported to any vendor's technology. Design problems that are best solved with other technologies will be welcomed and addressed to the best of our knowledge and ability.

    We ask that you recognize that database design is a mixture of art and science. You may receive conflicting suggestions, for there can be multiple paths to a workable solution. You will have to use your own judgment and knowledge of your business requirements to determine the best solution for your particular problem. The 'right' design is compounded by many factors, including business, regulatory, hardware/software requirements, as well as staff expertise. We also encourage you to share your experiences with a particular design issue if it will serve to help others encountering similar problems.

    In order to receive useful responses, please spend some time and properly present your scenario. Attempts to 'save time and effort' by cutting out parts of the scenario will often lead to wasted time and effort as the suggestions have to be discarded because they don't work with other parts of the unseen puzzle.


    But there are limits to what you can expect from volunteers through a disconnected medium. The questions most likely to receive a good and targeted answer, are those that present a small problem, that give a very clear description of that problem within its context, and that are placed by people with a fair understanding of the subject who need help getting over a few nasty bumps. The questions that are almost impossible to answer satisfactorily are those that present a huge problem, with no clear description, and asked by someone totally new to the subject matter.

    We hope that you will understand when we say that most of us that volunteer our time on this Forum do so in order to help folks learn. We will be pleased if you find the Forum to be useful. However, it is difficult or impossible for us to engage with folks privately. We don't have time to do both, and our commitment is help folks using the Forums.

    Do not hesitate to read all of the threads, join in the discussions, offer your own experiences and information, and ask questions to increase your knowlege. Seek out blogs from those who write in a manner that you appreciate, and consider reviewing the Database Design Resources for additional guidance and help.

     

SQL Server Migration announcements

  • Link
    Welcome to the SQL Server Migration forum
    Keshav Ramarao

    Need help with migration to SQL Server? Have any questions related to SQL Server Migration Assistant (SSMA) products for Oracle/Sybase/MySQL/Access? Feel free to discuss any SQL Server migration related topics or post any questions related to SSMA.

SQL Server Master Data Services announcements

  • Link
    SQL16 CTP2.3 is available for download
    Sherry_Li

    We are excited to share the new features which shipped in SQL CTP2.3 public release.  You can download the product here:http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=48726, and Excel add-in here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=47343

    In this monthly release, we added a few highly asked features.  Please give it try and look forward to hearing your feedback.

    Manage Business Rules (MDS Add-in for Excel)

    In the Master Data Services Add-in for Excel you can manage Business Rules, such as creating and editing business rules. Business rules are used to validate data. For more information, see Manage Business Rules (MDS Add-in for Excel).

    Many-to-Many Relationships in Derived Hierarchies

    You can now create a Derived Hierarchy that displays  many-to-many relationships. A many-to-many relationship between two entities may be modeled through the use of a third entity that provides a mapping between them. The mapping entity is an entity that has two or more domain-based attributes referencing other entities.

    For example, entity M has a domain-based attribute that references A and a domain-based attribute that references B. You can create a hierarchy from A to B using the mapping entity.

    For more information, see Show Many-to-Many Relationships in Derived Hierarchies (Master Data Services)

    Merge Conflicts

    If you try to publish data that has been changed by another user, the publish will fail with a conflict error. To resolve this error, you can perform merge conflicts and republish the changes. For more information, see Merge Conflicts (Master Data Services) and Merge Conflicts (MDS Add-in for Excel). 

     SQL Master Data Services Team

  • Link
    Master Data Services SQL2016 CTP2.2(July) Release is public available
    Sherry_Li

    Please give it a try and let us know your feedback!

    SQL Server 2016 Community Technology Preview 2.2 is publicly released and the latest bits can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/evaluate-sql-server-2016

    In CTP2.2 MDS introduced following changes:

    1. Custom Indexes

    You can create a non-clustered index on one attribute (single index) or on a list of attributes (composite index), in an entity, to help improve the query performance. For more information, see Custom Index (Master Data Services).

    2. Entity Sync Relationship

    You can share entity data between different models by creating an entity sync relationship. For more information, see Entity Sync Relationship (Master Data Services).

    3. Member Revision History

    A member revision history is recorded when a member is changed. You can rollback a revision history, as well as view and annotate revisions. Using the Log Retention Days property, you can specify how long historical data is retained. For more information, see Member Revision History (Master Data Services).

  • Link
    New release on MDS Excel add-in available for download
    Sherry_Li

    Hi, we are pleasured to announce the release of MDS Excel add-in. You can download it here:

    http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=42298

    This release includes a number of performance improvements – most users will see a 4x improvement when loading data from an MDS server, without any additional server or environment changes. For an additional performance increase (2-4x), you can enable Dynamic Content Compression in IIS.

    It works with both SQL12 or SQL14.  The installation will be in place upgrade so the users don't need to uninstall previous installation.  All the MDS connections will be preserved through the installation. 

    Please download the new version of Excel add-in.  Your feedback is welcome!

    Thanks,

    SQL MDS Team

  • Link
    Please Indicate "Mark as Answer" if a Post has Answered the Question
    edhickey

    While reading a reply to your question, you will notice a button with an icon that says "Mark as Answer."   Please select this button when a reply answers your question.

     

    There are several reasons to do this:

     

    • Our search engine weights Answered questions more highly. By marking Answers you increase the chances that others searching this forum will find the answer directly rather than re-posting the question.
    • You give credit to the hard working folks who answer your questions. This is peer to peer support, so recognition is our only reward. (Check out the Top Answerers in 30 Days chart at the bottom of the thread list to see who is currently answering questions.)
    • You help Microsoft to track the health of this forum. Our forum gets 'measured' based on how many unanswered questions are in it at any time and we work hard to keep those numbers to as low a level as possible. By marking answers, others get a more accurate understanding of how well (or badly) things are going on the forum.

     

    You can also vote "Yes" or "No" if the reply was helpful.

     

    Thank you!

     

    Ed Hickey

Power Pivot announcements

  • Link
    Fix for PowerPivot November CTP Expiration Released
    Kathy MacDonald [MSFT]

    The PowerPivot team is pleased to report that the fix for the November CTP expiration issue has been released. We know many of you have been eagerly awaiting this fix since last week when the PowerPivot for Excel add-in expired. We do sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused you.

    We have released a new version of the November CTP for the PowerPivot for Excel add-in. This new version is functionally identical to the old one except that it extends the expiration date to end of the year. You can download it from the same locations as in the past:

    Please note that the new version will take some time to replicate across all servers in the Microsoft download center. If you download it from the above links and still get the expiration error message, then try again periodically. It might also help to clear any browser/download caches on your computer.

  • Link
    PowerPivot for Excel 2010 November CTP Expired
    Kathy MacDonald [MSFT]

    If you are running the November 2009 CTP version of the PowerPivot for Excel 2010 add-in, your add-in expired on April 1st. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you.

    The SQL Server team will re-release the November 2009 CTP version of the PowerPivot for Excel 2010 add-in with an extended expiration date very soon. We will post an availability announcement with the download location and installation instructions on the PowerPivot blogs and forums as soon as possible.

    Kathy MacDonald
    SQL Server Analysis Services

  • Link
    PowerPivot Beta will not work with released versions of Excel, Sharepoint 2010 and others. Pls read!!
    Vikram Jayaram


    Summary

    =============================

    If PowerPivot for Excel 2010, Excel 2010, SharePoint 2010, or the Reporting Services Addin for SharePoint 2010 are beta versions, PowerPivot and its related functionality will not work with the Released versions of these components.

     

    More Information

    =============================

    The beta versions of the components listed above are not compatible with the released versions of these components. If the beta versions of the components are installed, they will not function with the released versions. For example, if you have a beta version of the PowerPivot download installed and upgrade to the released version of Excel 2010, the PowerPivot addin will not be available in Excel.

     

    The solution is to upgrade the beta components to their released versions when they become available.

SQL Server PowerPivot for SharePoint announcements