SQL Server Magazine UPDATE, August 15, 2002

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(below COMMENTARY)

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(below NEWS AND VIEWS)

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August 15, 2002—In this issue:

1. COMMENTARY

2. SQL SERVER NEWS AND VIEWS

3. ANNOUNCEMENTS

4. HOT RELEASES (ADVERTISEMENTS)

5. RESOURCES

6. NEW AND IMPROVED

7. CONTACT US

1. COMMENTARY

(contributed by Brian Moran, news editor, [email protected])

Several weeks ago, Microsoft released the .NET Framework Data Provider for Oracle (available at the first URL below), which provides native .NET access to Oracle databases. I work primarily with SQL Server, but I've heard rumors that a few people in the world still use Oracle . Microsoft is protecting its interests by fully embracing all major database platforms, which the company needs to do to ensure the .NET Framework's success. The recent release of the managed .NET provider for Oracle helps Microsoft promote the .NET Framework for two important reasons.

First, benchmark tests show that the new provider is up to 200 percent faster than the non-managed OLE DB provider for Oracle when you use it from a .NET-based application. Features are nice, but performance is king in the land of database development, and a 200 percent performance boost is a compelling reason to use this new provider. Developers might have been hesitant to use the .NET Framework Data Provider for Oracle unless performance was top-notch. You can check out benchmark results for the Oracle driver test run, which used the Nile 3.0 application benchmark suite, at the second URL below.

Second, but perhaps even more important to .NET developers, the new .NET managed provider for Oracle uses a programming model that's similar to SQL Server's native .NET managed provider. So, .NET developers can use their database-development skills to work with data on a SQL Server or Oracle back end. In addition, Microsoft made great effort in designing the .NET Framework Data Provider for Oracle to fully support Oracle9i data types and other native Oracle functionality. Lack of full support for native Oracle data types was a small problem with the Oracle drivers that Microsoft provided in the past.

Microsoft knows that it needs to provide compelling interoperability tools for customers who have heterogeneous environments. Microsoft needs to make rolling out .NET-based technology simple and painless. Customers shouldn't have to rip and strip their existing database infrastructure. And I'm sure it's just a coincidence that the SQL Server and Oracle managed .NET provider programming models are so similar. Microsoft would never consciously roll out a migration strategy for moving Oracle customers to SQL Server after they've written their applications in the .NET Framework. Would it?

http://www.msdn.microsoft.com/downloads/sample.asp?url=/msdn-files/027/001/940/msdncompositedoc.xml&frame=true

http://www.msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dndotnet/html/manprooracperf.asp

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2. SQL SERVER NEWS AND VIEWS

The voting has closed in SQL Server Magazine's nonscientific Instant Poll for the question, "What's the best way to curtail the escalating number of bugs in software?" Here are the results (+/- 1 percent) from the 280 votes:

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The next Instant Poll question is, "Are you interested in the new .NET Framework Data Provider for Oracle?" Go to the SQL Server Magazine Web site and submit your vote for 1) Yes—I'm already using it, 2) Yes, but I haven't used it yet, or 3) No.
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3. ANNOUNCEMENTS

(brought to you by SQL Server Magazine and its partners)

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5. RESOURCES

Has a SQL Server problem got you stumped? You can often get valuable technical advice—or at least commiseration—from online discussion forums and newsgroups. Michael Otey gives his picks for the best online SQL Server discussion groups in his article "Top Online Discussion Forums," which appears in the August issue of SQL Server Magazine and is available online at
http://www.sqlmag.com/articles/index.cfm?articleid=25729

Ric recently opened the performance monitor on a SQL Server machine and discovered that the SQL Server counters were missing. Offer your advice and read other users' suggestions on the SQL Server Magazine forums at the following URL:
http://www.sqlmag.com/forums/messageview.cfm?catid=5&threadid=7974

(contributed by Brian Moran, [email protected])

Bulk copy program (bcp) lets you copy data out of SQL Server based on the result set of a query that's specified on the bcp command line. The Q&A "Does the SQL Server 7.0 version of bulk copy program (bcp) let you create an output file from a query without having a VIEW to put the result set in?" ( http://www.sqlmag.com , InstantDoc ID 5867) explains how you can use the QUERYOUT option to accomplish this kind of data copying. But a SQL Server Magazine reader recently told me about a bug in bcp that forces the query specified in QUERYOUT to execute twice. (For a full description of this bug, see the Microsoft article "BUG: Bcp.exe Executes Query Twice When QueryOut Argument Used" at http://support.microsoft.com/search/preview.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;q309555 .)

Of course, executing a query twice is inefficient, especially when you're dealing with large data sets. You can still selectively bcp out data by defining a view in SQL Server that encapsulates the query you'd otherwise specify with the QUERYOUT option. You'll get the same output data set, but the query won't run twice.

Send your technical questions to [email protected].

6. NEW AND IMPROVED

(contributed by Carolyn Mader, [email protected])

Precise Software Solutions released Precise/Indepth for SQL Server, software that lets DBAs detect and resolve the root causes of application performance degradation in SQL Server production databases. Precise/Indepth for SQL Server lets you capture, measure, and correlate performance metrics from system components. For pricing, contact Precise Software Solutions at 781-461-0700.
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ecommerce.cz released WebSQL Console 3.0, software that makes SQL Server available to any client through a Web browser. The software lets you back up databases, restore databases, change user passwords, and configure reports. For pricing, contact ecommerce.cz at [email protected].
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7. CONTACT US

Here's how to reach us with your comments and questions:

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