SQL Hosting

Microsoft® SQL ServerTM 2005 For Dummies®

2008-07-30T10:43:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the world of SQL Server 2005. I am excited by the many new
capabilities of SQL Server 2005 and I hope that you are too.
SQL Server 2005 is the new edition of Microsoft’s SQL Server client-server
relational database. It’s a major release; the first in five years. SQL Server
2005 has many new features that help you manage a relational database and,
in many editions, adds important new business intelligence functionality.

SQL Server 2005, quite simply, is bigger and better than SQL Server 2000. It
offers functionality and pricing to help businesses of many sizes handle their
crucial business data more effectively and more efficiently. No, I am not a
Microsoft marketing person. It’s quite simply true that a lot of new features
and tools in SQL Server 2005 can help you look after your data.

SQL Server 2005 comes in several different editions:
Enterprise: Has the full functionality to support scalability and availability
needed by large enterprises. It supports an unlimited number of CPUs.
In addition, it has the full suite of Business Intelligence functionality.
Standard: Supports up to 4 CPUs. Has only some Business Intelligence
functionality; for example, it includes only basic Integration Services
transforms.
Workgroup: It has limited Business Intelligence support. No Analysis
Services or Integration Services support. No Web services support.
Developer: Has all the functionality included in Enterprise Edition, but it
is not licensed for production use.
Mobile: Microsoft’s mobile database solution. The successor to SQL
Server CE.
Express: A low-end free database with maximum 4GB database size. The
successor to MSDE. No full-text search. This edition is not covered in
this book, but another book — Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express For
Dummies, by Robert Schneider (Wiley) — is dedicated to it.
At the time of writing a full feature comparison of the editions of SQL Server
2005 is at www.microsoft.com/sql/prodinfo/features/
compare-features.mspx.

SQL Server 2005 is huge. No book of this size can hope to cover it all. I have
had to make choices about the topics to include in this book to help you
understand how SQL Server works and how to use a range of its functionality.

Here are some of the things you can do with this book:
Find out how to use SQL Server Management Studio, the new management
tool in SQL Server 2005 that replaces Enterprise Manager and
Query Analyzer.
Create databases and tables.
Retrieve data from a SQL Server database.
Create maintenance plans.
Create an Integration Services project.
Create a simple Analysis Services project.
Use Reporting Services.

Download Ebook:
http://rapidshare.com/files/76331907/Microsoft_SQL_Server_2005_For_Dummies__2006_.pdf

All you need to know about Ecommerce Web Hosting

2008-07-25T10:42:00.000-07:00

Gone are the days when the Internet was only for the geek labs and university libraries. With the emergence of accessible connectivity and affordable technology, ecommerce and online business are not futuristic concepts. Websites like Amazon and Ebay are the prime examples of successful online business ventures.

If you are planning to start your online business or an ecommerce website, you need to be careful about where you host your website. There are two things that are very important to run an ecommerce website: a well-designed, content-rich website and a host that supports seamless hosting. Remember that your ecommerce host is the backbone of your business. Imagine what would happen if there are hundreds of customers eager to pay you and your website is down or certain sections are inaccessible. Or for that matter, some mischievous hackers steals your important customer and sales database and wrecks havoc with your business. Choosing an ecommerce or an online business web host is not as simple as choosing a web host for a normal website.

As it happens with any brick and mortar business, you need to take many things into account before choosing your ecommerce web host. How many other online business websites are they already hosting? What has been their track record till now? What do the other ecommerce entrepreneurs think of them? What all tools do they provide when you purchase their ecommerce web hosting package? Along with these, let us discuss in points what makes a host good for your ecommerce or online business website.

THE HOSTING PLATFORM FOR YOUR ECOMMERCE WEBSTIE
If you yourself are not developing/coding your website then your developer should be able to advise you what business hosting platform you require for your website. You may need Windows environment or Unix/Linux combination according to your website's development environment and tools implementation. For example, if your developer is an experienced ASP (active server pages) programmer, he/she would prefer a Windows web hosting environment, but if he/she prefers PHP, then you'll have to go for Linux/Unix business web hosting. Although different people have different issues with both the web hosting types, it all depends on personal preferences.

THE UPTIME OF YOUR ONLINE BUSINESS WEBSITE
This is the bane of countless webmasters. Millions in revenues are lost because when customers arrive at the websites, the ecommerce websites are down or some of the critical pages are not available. The customers arrive with the intention of making a purchase but there is no facility available...this is the worst nightmare for an ecommerce entrepreneur or a business person.
Make sure your ecommerce web host manages parallel servers so that if one server goes down, the others can take over. Your business web host should give you the guaranteed security of your critical data.

THE BANDWIDTH OF YOUR ECOMMERCE WEB HOST
An ecommerce website requires lots of traffic in order to generate business because, as it happens with every business in this world, not every visitor is a buyer or a customer. 10 or 20 people do business if 1000s of visitors come to your website. You have to make provision for lots of traffic, and that too, targeted traffic.

THE STORAGE SPACE OF YOUR ONLINE BUSINESS WEB HOSTING PACKAGE
Ecommerce websites take up more space compared to normal, non-commercial or semi-commercial websites. First of all, you need an online database to maintain comprehensive inventory details. Then, you may have tens of flash files or hundreds of image files if your buyers would like to view the images or if they want to go through some sort of an online catalog. Keep your future server space requirements in mind while negotiating for an ecommerce hosting package.

THE NUMBER OF EMAIL ACCOUNTS YOUR ECOMMERCE WEB HOST OFFERS
Some business web hosts offer a limited number of POP3 email accounts that you can manage through software like Outlook and Firefox and some offer an unlimited number. Some don't provide a POP3 email account at all and you need to manage all your emails through a web-based interface. Make sure what your email requirements are going to be and go for an ecommerce web hosting package accordingly.

OTHER TOOLS WITH YOUR ECOMMERCE WEB HOSTING PACKAGE
- Some other tools you may want to check out are: Autoresponders: most ecommerce hosts these days provide free autoresponders.
- Multiple FTP accounts: You may need multiple FTP accounts if you have a big team of programmers.
- FrontPage extensions: FrontPage is shipped with lots tools for an easy and fast assemblage of a basic ecommerce website but these tools need some extensions installed on the server. If you are getting your business website developed using FrontPage, you'll need the extensions available on the server of the web host.
- Secure Socket Layer (SSL): SSL can be used to collect sensitive data from your site visitors, to ensure that your emails are not intercepted online, and to provide a sense of security for your customers.
- Shopping cart software: Some business web hosting packages are shift with a shopping cart.

Beginner Guide to Web Hosting

2008-07-25T10:40:00.000-07:00

What is web hosting? Whenever you visit a website, what you see on your web browser is essentially just a web page that is downloaded from the web server onto your web browser. In general, a web site is made up of many web pages. And a web page is basically composed of texts and graphic images. All these web pages need to be stored on the web servers so that online users can visit your website.

Therefore, if you plan to own a new website, you will need to host your website on a web server. When your website goes live on the web server, online users can then browse your website on the Internet. A company that provides the web servers to host your website is called web hosting provider.

A well-established web hosting provider sometimes hosts up to thousands of websites. For example, the ‘Best Web Host of the Year 2003' award winner, iPowerWeb, is a web hosting company that hosts more than 200,000 websites. For that reason, a web hosting company need many web servers (essentially, these are computers) to ‘store' the website. And all these web servers are connected to the Internet through high speed Internet connection and housed in a physical building called ‘data center'. In order to guarantee all the web servers are safe, secure and fully operational all time, a data center is a physically secure 24/7 environment with fire protection, virus detections, computer data backup, redundant power backup and complete disaster recovery capabilities.

What are the different types of web hosting?

There are different kinds of web hosting companies out there with different characteristics. The main types of web hosts can be organized into the following categories:

a. Shared Hosting
In shared hosting (or virtual hosting), many websites are sharing the space on the same physical web servers. Depending on the web host, a physical web server can hosts a few hundred to even thousand of different websites at one time. Since a physical web server is shared (diskspace, computer processing power, bandwidth, memory) by many websites, the web hosting provider can therefore afford to offer a lower hosting price. For the same reason, websites on the shared hosting would have to accept slower server response time. Typically, shared hosting plans start at $5 - $20 per month.

b. Dedicated Hosting
-In contrast to shared hosting, dedicated hosting assigned a specific web server to be used only by one customer. Since a dedicated web server is allocated to only a single customer, the customer has the option to host single/multiple web sites, modify the software configuration, handle greater site traffic and scale the bandwidth as necessary. Therefore, dedicated hosting commands a higher premium and typically starts at $50 per month and can range up to $200 - $500 per month. As a result, dedicated hosting is regularly used by high traffic and important website.

c. Co-location hosting
In dedicated hosting, the web server belongs to the web hosting providers and customers only rent the web server during the hosting period. While in co-location hosting, the customer owns the web server hardware and only housed their web server within the web hosting provider's secure data center. In this way, the customer has full control over their web server and simultaneously benefit from the 24/7 server monitoring and maintenance provided by the secure data center. Depending on the monthly bandwidth and rack space required, typically co-location hosting range from $500 - $1000 per month.

d. Reseller hosting
In reseller hosting, a web hosting provider offers web server storage to third-party (i.e. reseller) at a discount price, who then resell the web server storage to their customers. Typically, resellers are web consultants including web designers, web developers, or system integration company who resell the web hosting as a add-on service to complement their other range of services.

Commonly, resellers can receive up to 50 percent discount on the price of a hosting account from the web hosting provider. And resellers are allowed to decide its own pricing structure and even establish its own branding (in other words, reseller setup its web hosting company on the Internet and start selling web hosting plans under its brand).

To the reseller's customers, the reseller is the web host provider. In cases when technical problems such as server down and access problem arise, the resellers will have to correspond directly with the actual web host provider. Due to the communication process taken place between customer to reseller and from reseller to actual web host provider and back and forth, undoubtedly problems will take longer time to resolve. Unless you are running your own personal website or non-profit website and willing to take the risks of poor support from the reseller, reseller hosting is generally not a good option.

However, the web hosting market today is filled with resellers that sell lowest price web hosting plans. So, how do you tell between a genuine web hosting provider from a reseller? You don't judge by the availability of toll-free number alone because some web hosting providers even offer their resellers with their own toll-free number for co-branded technical support. When the reseller's customer calls the number for technical support, the web host uses the reseller's name so the customer thinks that the support is coming from the reseller directly. Likewise, don't be fooled by the professional designed website alone because it is extremely easy to create a professional looked business website nowadays.

In general, resellers can be distinguished from their hosting price and company information. In most cases, a genuine web hosting provider has solid company information such as iPowerWeb.com where they publish its financial background, offices and data centers. In contrast, resellers usually do not have solid company background such as TinyHost.com. Moreover, the hosting price by resellers is generally below $5 per month. So, why settle for resellers when you can find genuine web hosting providers offering superb quality web hosting at the hosting price ranging between $7 - $10.

Therefore, you should not strive to find the lowest price web hosting companies without first considering the quality of the service and support provided. Don't expect to find any top-level support if you choose to pay only $2 or $3 per months for your web hosting plan. On the other hand, by paying just slightly more for your hosting plan, you can now discover a list of low cost yet high quality web hosting plans to host your important website.

14 Good Hosting Options for Hardcore Developers

2008-07-25T10:30:00.000-07:00

Finding the perfect Web host can be perplexing with so many out there to choose from. If you are a serious programmer, then you have more to consider than the average customer.

While some people are merely looking for their cheapest option with the most bandwidth, you may require a host that supports Ruby on Rails, MySQL, PHP, cPanel, Perl or CGI-BIN access. To aid you in your decision, we have compiled a list of 14 good hosting options for hardcore developers.

1. A2Hosting — A2Hosting is a very reliable company, offering packages for sites both big and small. Whether you are building a personal homepage or a major Web presence for a large corporation, A2Hosting is a developer-friendly solution to your hosting problems. The service is Linux-based, supporting features like MySQL, PHP and Ruby on Rails. A member of the Better Business Bureau, A2Hosting guarantees a 99.9% uptime, which is as high as any business can promise. With cutting edge technology at the forefront and guaranteed reliability, A2Hosting is an outstanding choice for serious Web developers.
2. BlueHost — BlueHost is one of the top Web hosting companies in the world, due in no small part to its reliability and cutting-edge technology. Both novice Webmasters and hardcore developers can find a suitable package from this host. The features included with a BlueHost account are numerous, including unlimited domain names, VoIP, spam protection, CGI-BIN access, FrontPage extensions and Fantastico script support. CGI/Databases supported by BlueHost include PHP, Perl, Python, Ruby/Ruby on Rails, MySQL5, Javascript/DHTML and more. BlueHost, in addition to being one of the top-performing Web hosts, is also one of the most inexpensive services available.
3. Dot5Hosting — Dot5Hosting is an affordable Web host that offers a guarantee of 99.9% uptime and an array of features that should interest a serious developer. Up to six domain names can be applied to one Dot5Hosting site and, for as long as your account is active, you will never have to renew any of the domains. Multimedia features supported by the host include streaming video/audio, Shockwave, and Flash. Dot5Hosting also offers world class technology in their high-speed servers and 24/7 site monitoring. PHP, Perl, Python and Javascript/DHTML are also supported, giving programmers a variety of scripts to choose from.
4. DotServant.com — There are many low-cost hosting companies available, but most of them offer less-than-stellar reliability and aren’t suited for professional developers. DotServant, however, is one of the few hosts that combines low price with high performance. A standard package with DotServant is quite cheap and developer-friendly, supporting PHP, PHP5, MySQL, MySQL5 and Ruby on Rails. With a high transfer rate and large storage space, even large sites can be maintained through DotServant on a budget.
5. DreamHost — Speaking from personal experience, my favorite aspect of DreamHost would have to be its easy-to-use control panel. The ability to host unlimited domains, created new e-mail users, and create new MySQL databases is a snap. Hosting plans start at under $100 a year. For a small business that needs to keep start-up costs low, DreamHost offers very good service for the price.
6. HostGator.com — HostGator.com is considered to be one of the best Web hosts in the world. Boasting a 99.9% uptime and round-the-clock phone support, HostGator.com also provides a variety of packages at affordable rates. Web developers at any level of expertise will be pleased with this company, in particular serious programmers. Features supported by HostGator include MySQL, Ruby on Rails, Perl, Python, SSH, cURL, streaming audio/video and more. From personal homepages to large, dedicated sites, this company can serve anyone’s needs.
7. HostPapa — HostPapa is a Canadian Web host that offers many developer-friendly features for a reasonable price. Domain names are available “for life”, which means you will never have to renew them for as long as you remain with the company. Programmers will be interested in the multitude of supported features, including MySQL databases, PHP, Fantastico, Perl, FrontPage extensions and more. Flash, Shockwave, MIDI files and streaming audio/video are also supported by HostPapa. If that isn’t enough to interest you, then the 24/7 monitoring and guaranteed 99.9% uptime should.
8. InMotion — InMotion is a flexible, reliable and award-winning Web host, perfect for both personal and business sites. The service is compatible with Windows, Mac and Linux, so a wide variety of programmers can use the host. Also, supported features like PHP, Perl, MySQL and CGI-BIN make the company desirable to serious Webmasters. A member of the Better Business Bureau, InMotion is also notable for its 99.9% uptime guarantee, 24/7 customer service and world class technology.
9. IX Web — Whether you are a novice Webmaster or a programmer with years of experience, IX Web offers a suitable package for your needs. Compatible with Windows, Mac and Linux, the company appeals to all developers. The company has won multiple awards from within the industry and is a trusted member of the Better Business Bureau. A reliable host indeed, supported features offered by IX Web include PHP, Perl, CGI, CGI-BIN, ColdFusion, Javascript and more.
10. Joyent — Joyent, the official Ruby on Rails host, has won multiple awards for its applications and customer service team. They focus on business Web sites and offer features additional to Ruby on Rails, including PHP5, MySQL 4.1, Lighttpd, Subversion, WebDAV and more. This host is also responsible for the Joyent Accelerator, which is being used by corporations all over the world. The Accelerator will make your server faster and more reliable. In fact, Joyent promises a 99.9% uptime for all its services, including shared hosting.
11. Jumpline VDS — Jumpline VDS is a small, family business that has grown to impressive proportions, thanks to its reliable and flexible hosting plans. There are many features included with a Jumpline VDS site, including Perl, PHP, ColdFusion, FrontPage extensions, Python, Ruby, Java and more. The company guarantees a stable, lightning-fast server and is always up-to-date with the latest in hosting technology. With affordable plans for sites both big and small, Jumpline VDS is a great choice for Webmasters.
12. Media Temple — Media Temple is the choice of big companies such as Nike, Sony, Starbucks, and WHDb. They offer basic shared server hosting or high end dedicated server hosting. As a Media Temple customer, I can honestly say that they offer terrific uptime and their customer support is unparalleled; often times, there is no wait time to speak with customer service, and if there ever is a wait, it’s never more than just a couple of minutes. Highly recommended. If you sign up, tell them WHDb.com sent you!
13. midPhase — midPhase is so confident in its hosting services, the company offers a risk-free, money-back guarantee. With new specials and features being offered every day, midPhase stands out amongst other low-cost hosting companies. Serious Webmasters shouldn’t be deterred by the term “low-cost”, as midPhase is quite serious about its commitment to programmers. Features supported by the company include PHP, CGI, FTP, MySQL and more. If you need reliable hosting for a minimal fee, try midPhase.
14. PowWeb — You will be hard-pressed to find a cheaper solution to your hosting problems than PowWeb and yet, surprisingly, there are many features offered with the company’s services. While this host may not support as many scripts as some higher-end competitors, it is laden with fun extras and software. Free software included with a PowWeb site includes MediaWiki, php-Nuke, WordPress, Mambo and Gallery2. With 24/7 technical support and a reliable, fast server, this budget host shouldn’t be underestimated.

While the masses may be content with mainstream hosts like GoDaddy, you may be looking for something different. Serious developers are looking for features beyond free templates and cheap domain names. They need high-end servers that are guaranteed with at least a 99.5% uptime, as well as support for various scripts and databases. If you are an experienced programmer with a long list of hosting requirements, then look into one of the above companies for support.

Top Web hosting companies offer SQL Server 2008

2008-07-25T09:35:00.000-07:00

Customers can have their web sites hosted using SQL Server 2008 today with top Web hosting companies. These certified Microsoft partners provide customers with low-cost options that enable a fast and easy way for anyone to start using SQL Server 2008.

Customers can take advantage of SQL Server 2008 features including support for managing new geo spatial data, new HierarchyID support for managing self-referencing tables, support for large User Defined Data Types, support for LINQ, new support for PHP developers, Business Intelligence support that provides deep insights into data, and much more.

The following Web hosting companies offer SQL Server 2008 hosting options:

"We are very excited about the launch of Microsoft SQL 2008 and the cutting edge advantage it provides for our clients. Our close partnership with Microsoft is the foundation for AussieHQ to continue innovating as Australia's leading web hosting provider."
- Michael McGoogan, Managing Director
Web site: Aussie HQ

"Under the SQL 2008 Go Live program, we are giving our customers a free SQL 2008 beta database account for testing purposes. The beta program provides our customers with the opportunity to get a jumpstart in testing SQL 2008 in a live hosted environment before its official release."
- Takeshi Eto, VP Marketing
Web site: DiscountASP

"We have been offering SQL Server 2008 since November of 2007 and have been very impressed by the substantial improvement in performance. We are also excited by the multi-server administration and the declarative management framework features which has already exponentially reduced administration time in our hosted environment."
- Sarah Barela, Manager of Database Services
Web site: MaximumASP

"The hosted services model is all about, “Your Data, Any Place, Any Time”, so deploying SQL 2008 for our hosted customers was an easy decision for myhosting.com. SQL 2008 along with Windows Server 2008/IIS7 has enabled us to provide a solid platform for our customers that will meet their needs today and evolve as the world of hosted services grow, both in size as well as complexity."
- Dmitri Gaikovoi, Senior Hosting Specialist
Web site: myhosting.com (SoftCom)

“As a part of Microsoft’s Early Adopter Program for SQL 2008, we believe the new capability it offers will help drive the adoption of cloud solutions all the way up to the enterprise. As Rackspace's cloud computing division, Mosso is committed to making cloud computing as easy as possible for our customers and the next generation SQL Server 2008 will help us reach our goals. The scalability, performance, security and manageability improvements SQL 2008 offers will benefit our customers that leverage SQL Server. For example, the new resource governor is a key feature which will help us better manage server workload and system resource consumption which in turn will improve system performance for multi-tenant customers in our SQL environment. We can also take clustering to the next level with new abilities which reduce hardware and infrastructure requirements.”
- Todd Morey, Co-Founder
Web site: Mosso

“With SQL 2008, Locaweb is offering new functionality to our customers as early as the SQL 2008 RC, and we’re happy to work in partnership with Microsoft to bring value added solutions to our customers.”
- Fernando Zangrande, Product Manager
Web site: LocaWeb

"The new features in SQL Server 2008 like Resource Governor will help UOL Host to decrease operational costs by allowing us to better monitor and manage our hosting clients.”
- Marcelo Imai, Manager
Web site: UOL Host

Other top Internet hosting companies that offer SQL Server 2008 include, Hosting.com, HostMySite, Hostbasket, and Swizzle.

Understanding SQL Web Hosting

2008-07-25T09:30:00.000-07:00

Before understanding the concept of SQL web hosting, it's necessary to have a basic grasp on what SQL is, and also how web hosting works.

SQL is the acronym for Structured Query Language, which is a computer language that is used to manipulate data in a database. SQL works with many different database systems, such as Access, Oracle and MS SQL. SQL is widely used due to it's simplicity and applicability to diverse database functions, many of which make up global business systems and commercial computer software.

Web Hosting is a service provided by a company that leases server space to companies or individuals that have web pages they want to display on the internet. Web hosts provide the necessary bandwidth and technology to allow internet users to access these web pages. While anyone can create a web page, special servers dedicated to internet connectivity and hosting are required to make the web page active.

Therefore, SQL web hosting is a service that allows SQL databases to be hosted on the internet. SQL web hosting can be used to store database information on the web, allow offsite personal to access database management tools and provide detailed information to customers or clients. Typical applications that use SQL databases are ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) and CRM (Customer Relationship Management) programs.

What are the Benefits of SQL Web Hosting

There are several advantages to investing in an SQL web hosting service rather than relying on a standard web host. If you require a web based database, you will quickly come to appreciate these benefits:

* Increased RAM and Bandwidth - Typically, database applications take up a lot of memory and server space. SQL web hosting services provide additional room for your database to evolve and grow over time.
* SQL Administration Services - Because SQL web hosting services are dedicated to database hosting, they generally have the ability to offer advanced administration services to keep your database running smoothly and at optimum performance

.
* Technical Assistance and SQL Design - If you're new to SQL, many SQL web hosting services provide technical assistance and design packages for an additional cost when you purchase web hosting.

Things to Look for in a Quality SQL Web Hosting Service

Once you've decided to go with an SQL web host, you'll need to select a service. There are a lot of providers currently on the market, and sometimes it's difficult to tell them apart. A quality SQL web hosting service should offer you the following:

* Reliability

* Control Panel Options

* Technical Support

* Customer Support

* Multiple Hosting Plans

Overall, if you plan on maintaining a database online, your best option is to go with a web hosting service that has servers dedicated specifically to SQL applications. Doing so will ensure that you get the most value out of your investment. SQL web hosting may cost a little more than standard hosting, but it's worth every penny.

Select a PostgreSQL Web Hosting Provider

2008-07-25T09:21:00.000-07:00

What Is It?
PostgreSQL is an open source relational database system with over fifteen years’ active development. The source code is available under the BSD license, which provides freedom to use, modify and distribute PstgreSQL in any form.

Who Is it For?

PostgreSQL is available to anyone who requires a relational database system that supports international character sets, multibyte character encodings, Unicode, and locale-aware for sorting, case-sensitivity, and formatting.

Features

PostgreSQL is an enterprise class database that boasts sophisticated features such as Multi-Version Concurrency Control (MVCC), point in time recovery, tablespaces, asynchronous replication, nested transactions (savepoints), online/hot backups, a sophisticated query planner/optimizer, and write ahead logging for fault tolerance. It supports international character sets, multibyte character encodings, Unicode, and it is locale-aware for sorting, case-sensitivity, and formatting. It is highly scalable both in the sheer quantity of data it can manage and in the number of concurrent users it can accommodate. There are active PostgreSQL systems in production environments that manage in excess of 4 terabytes of data.

Data integrity features include (compound) primary keys, foreign keys with restricting and cascading updates/deletes, check constraints, unique constraints, and not null constraints. It also contains a host of extensions and advanced features. Among the conveniences are auto-increment columns through sequences, and LIMIT/OFFSET allowing the return of partial result sets. PostgreSQL supports compound, unique, partial, and functional indexes which can use any of its B-tree, R-tree, hash, or GiST storage methods.

Compatibility

PostgreSQL runs on all major operating systems, including Linux, UNIX (AIX, BSD, HP-UX, SGI IRIX, Mac OS X, Solaris, Tru64), and Windows. It is fully ACID compliant, has full support for foreign keys, joins, views, triggers, and stored procedures (in multiple languages). It includes most SQL92 and SQL99 data types, including INTEGER, NUMERIC, BOOLEAN, CHAR, VARCHAR, DATE, INTERVAL, and TIMESTAMP. It also supports storage of binary large objects, including pictures, sounds, or video. It has native programming interfaces for C/C++, Java, .Net, Perl, Python, Ruby, Tcl, ODBC, among others, and it includes exceptional open source documentation.

Select a Oracle Web Hosting Provider

2008-07-25T09:18:00.000-07:00

What Is It?
In 1977, Silicon Valley-based software engineers Larry Ellison, Bob Miner and Ed Oates founded a consulting company, Software Development Laboratories (SDL) and picked up a contract with the CIA to build a special database program code-named, “Oracle.”

Now, in its fourth decade, Oracle continues to increase its momentum with acquisitions, R&D, and advances in its relational database system delivery. Its latest development includes Oracle Database 11g, which introduces Oracle Flashback Data Archive. This new feature transparently tracks historical changes to all Oracle data in a highly secure and efficient manner for many platforms and users.

Who Is it For?

Although originally designed for top-secret development, Oracle is available now to any user who requires a database system that can efficiently track data, either within a solo application or through a database suite. Oracle Database software comes in 63 language-versions including regional variations on several languages. Variations between versions cover the names of days and months, abbreviations, time-symbols such as A.M. and A.D., and sorting.

Features

The features within an Oracle database would depend upon the version, type, and application desired by the user. Oracle 11g is designed for larger corporations, whereas the Oracle E-Business Suite 12 helps global businesses “think globally for better decision-making, work globally to be more competitive, and manage globally to lower costs and increase performance.” The PeopleSoft Enterprise 9 is intended for organizations to successfully deploy fully integrated talent management strategies.

Other applications within Oracle exist, including Oracle VM, a server virtualization software that fully supports both Oracle and non-Oracle applications, and is three times more efficient than other server virtualization products. This product offers customers a single point of enterprise-class support for their entire virtualization environments, including the Linux operating system, Oracle Database, Fusion Middleware, and Application software. These and other Oracle products are certified with Oracle VM, which is available for free download.

Compatibility

Oracle established the OSCP (Oracle Storage Compatibility Program) to ensure that various products would be compatible with Oracle database products NFS file servers, remote mirroring, and snapshot products. This program was discontinued in January 2007, as – at that time – Oracle believed that their NFS file servers, remote mirroring, and snapshot products were “well understood by the customers,” were very mature, and that the Oracle technological requirements were well known.

Most Oracle applications are compatible with Windows and Linux OS; however, the user might become familiar with the type of Oracle application used and whether the version is compatible with current Window and/ or Linux server operating systems.

Select a MySQL Web Hosting Provider

2008-07-25T09:16:00.000-07:00

What Is It?
MySQL originally was founded and developed in Sweden by David Axmark, Allan Larsson and Michael “Monty” Widenius. The first internal release of this database type occurred on May 23, 1995 at the Swedish company MySQL AB,

which now is a subsidiary of Sun Microsystems. As of February 26, 2008, MySQL is owned, developed and supported by Sun Microsystems, one of the world’s largest contributors to open source software.

Therefore, it stands to reason that MySQL is the most popular open source database software, with over 100 million copies of its software downloaded or distributed throughout its history. As of August 2007, MySQL offers MySQL 5.0 in two different variants: the MySQL Community Server and Enterprise Server. Both have a common code base. MySQL Enterprise Server is a flagship model released once per month. Sources can be obtained from MySQL’s customer-only Enterprise site or from MySQL’s BitKeeper repository, both which operate under the GPL license. The MySQL Community Server is published on an unspecified schedule under the GPL and contains bug fixes that were shipped with any previous MySQL Enterprise Server release. MySQL binaries no longer are included with every Community Server release.

Who Is it For?

MySQL is a key part of LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP / Perl / Python), an open source enterprise software stack. LAMP provides an alternative to expensive proprietary software stacks for companies that seek lower costs in addition to freedom from database platform restrictions. MySQL provides superior speed, reliability, and ease of use, and Web, Web 2.0, SaaS, ISV, and Telecom companies have adopted MySQL database solutions for powering high-volume Web sites, business systems, and packaged software solutions.

Outside business concerns, the average Webmaster or inexperienced blogger may have become accustomed to MySQL operations during ordinary Web tasks. MySQL often is available through Web hosts, since blogging software such as WordPress demands the use of a database system that is user-friendly and that reduces the load on server operating systems.

Features

MySQL databases are open to receiving a variety of libraries to connect them to all major programming languages through language-specific APIs. The MySQL server and its official libraries mostly are implemented in ANSI C/ ANSI C++. Further, MySQL is popular for many Web applications and acts as the database component for LAMP, MAMP and WAMP platforms such as Linux, Mac, Windows, Apache, Perl, Python, etc. Its popularity for Web applications often revolves around its connections with PHP and Ruby on Rails, or languages essential for running popular content management systems such as blogs and open source software content management systems (CMS).

Other features include the MySQL Cluster, which delivers a fault-tolerant database clustering architecture to deploy highly available and mission-critical database applications; MySQL Embedded Databases designed for OEMs/ISVs who want to cost-effectively embed or bundle a reliable and high-performance database; MySQL Database Drivers for JDBC, ODBC and .Net enabling developers to build database applications in the language of choice, and MySQL Databse Tools that provide a comprehensive set of open source visual database tools including MySQL Administrator, MySQL Query Browser, and the MySQL Migration Toolkit.

Compatibility

MySQL is written in C and C++ and the SQL parser uses yacc and home-brewed lexer. A document describing some of the internal structures of the code and the coding guidelines is available from the MySQL web site. For users who want to know instant compatibility, MySQL operates smoothly on a wide variety of platforms including AIX, BSDi, FreeBSD, HP-UX, i5/OS, Linux, Mac OS X, NetBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris, and most Windows systems. Other compliant platforms include Novell NetWare, Warp, QNX, IRIX, SunOS, SCO OpenServer, SCO UnixWare, and Tru64. MySQL does not function on the 64-bit version of Windows Vista.

10 reasons why SQL Server 2008 is going to rock

2008-07-25T08:54:00.000-07:00

Just like its predecessor, SQL Server 2008 is taking its sweet time to actually ship. However, unlike its predecessor, it won't just be a "worthwhile upgrade". It will kick ass.
Here are the top 10 reasons why:

1. Intellisense in the SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS). This has been previously possible in SQL Server 2000 and 2005 with Intellisense use of 3rd party add-ins like SQL Prompt ($195). But these tools are a horrible hack at best (e.g. they hook into the editor window and try to interpret what the application is doing).

Built-in intellisense is huge - it means new people can easily learn the database schema as they go.

2. Processing of delimited strings. This is awesome and I could have used this feature...well, always. Currently, we pass in delimited strings in the following manner:

exec sp_MySproc 'murphy,35;galen,31;samuels,27;colton,42'

Then the stored proc needs to parse the string into a usable form - a mindless task.

In 2008, Microsoft introduced Table Value Parameters (TVP).

CREATE TYPE PeepsType AS TABLE (Name varchar(20), Age int)
DECLARE @myPeeps PeepsType
INSERT @myPeeps SELECT 'murphy', 35
INSERT @myPeeps SELECT 'galen', 31
INSERT @myPeeps SELECT 'samuels', 27
INSERT @myPeeps SELECT 'colton', 42

exec sp_MySproc2 @myPeeps

And the sproc would look like this:

CREATE PROCEDURE sp_MySproc2(@myPeeps PeepsType READONLY) ...

The advantage here is that you can treat the Table Type as a regular table, use it in joins, etc. Say goodbye to all those string parsing routines.

3. Plan freezing. This is a solution to my personal pet peeve. Sometimes SQL Server decides to change its plan on you (in response to data changes, etc...). If you've achieved your optimal query plan, now you can stick with it. Yeah, I know, hints are evil, but there are situations when you want to take a hammer to SQL Server - well, this is the chill pill.

4. Resource governor. All I can say is FINALLY. Sybase has had it since version 12 (that's last millennium, people). Basically it allows the DBA to specify how much resources (e.g. CPU/RAM) each user is entitled to. At the very least, it'll prevent people, with sparse SQL knowledge from shooting off a query with a Cartesian product and bringing down the box.

Actually Sybase is still ahead of MS on this feature. Its ASE server allows you to prioritize one user over another - a feature that I found immensely useful.

5. Filtered Indexes. This is another feature that sounds great - will have to see how it plays out. Anyway, it allows you to create an index while specifying what rows are not to be in the index. For example, index all rows where Status != null. Theoretically, it'll get rid of all the dead weight in the index, allowing for faster queries.

6. Compression. You may think that this feature is a waste of time, but it's not what it sounds like. The release will offer row-level and page-level compression. The compression mostly takes place on the metadata. For instance, page compression will store common data for affected rows in a single place.

The metadata storage for variable length fields is going to be completely crazy: they are pushing things into bits (instead of bytes). For instance, length of the varchar will be stored in 3 bits.

Anyway, I don't really care about space savings - storage is cheap. What I do care about is that the feature promised (key word here "promises") to reduce I/O and RAM utilization, while increasing CPU utilization. Every single performance problem I ever dealt with had to do with I/O overloading. Will see how this plays out. I am skeptical until I see some real world production benchmarks.

7. Auditing. It's a 10 dollar word for storing changes to your data for later review, debugging or in response to regulatory laws. It's a thankless and a mundane task and no one is ever excited by the prospect of writing triggers to handle it. SQL Server 2008 introduces automatic auditing, so we can now check one thing off our to do list.

8. C like math syntax. SET @i += 5. Enough said. They finally let a C# developer on the SQL team.

9. Inline variable assignment. I often wondered why, as a language, SQL languishes behind the times. I mean, it has barely any modern syntactic sugar. Well, in this version, they are at least scratching the the tip of the iceberg.

Instead of:

DECLARE @myVar int
SET @myVar = 5

you can do it in one line:

DECLARE @myVar int = 5

Sweet.

10. Plug-in model for SSMS. SSMS 2005 also had a plug-in model, but it was not published, so the few developers that braved that environment were flying blind. Apparently for 2008, the plug-in model will be published and a thousand add-ins will bloom.

Select a SQL Web Hosting Provider

2008-07-25T08:44:00.000-07:00

What Is It?

SQL, which stands for Structured Query Language, is a database computer language designed for the data retrieval and management in relational database management systems (RDBMS),

database schema creation and modification, and database object access control management. The first version of SQL was developed by Donald D. Chamberlin and Raymond F. Boyce at IBM in the early 1970s. The first version, called SEQUEL, was designed to manipulte and retrieve data stored in IBM’s original relational database product, System R. The SQL language later was standardized by the American National Standards Institute (ISO) standards. With the release of the SQL:1999 standard, many such extensions were formally adopted as part of the SQL language via the SQL Persistent Stored Modules (SQL/PSM) portion of the standard.

Who Is it For?

SQL is designed specifically to query data contained in a relational database. SQL is a set-based, declarative query language, not an imperative language such as C or Basic. However, extensions for SQL add procedural programming language functionality, such as control of flow constructs including Oracle’s PL/SQL, or Procedural Language/SQL, PostgreSQL, or Procedural LanguageSQL, and MySQL. Many blog writers are familiar with the latter database management system, as MySQL is incorporated as the relational database system management tool in blogging software packages.

Features

SQL works with database programs like MS Access, DB2, Informix, MS SQL Server, Oracle, Sybase, etc. Unfortunately, there are many different versions of the SQL language, but to be in compliance with the ANSI standard, they must support the same major keywords in a similar manner (such as SELECT, UPDATE, DELETE, INSERT, WHERE, and others). Many proprietary extensions have been added to SQL, so the user needs to understand the needs for the database to choose the extension along with the standard.

Compatibility

Although SQL is both an ANSI and an ISO standard, many database products support SQL with proprietary extensions to the standard language. The core of SQL is formed by a command language that allows the retrieval, insertion, updating, and deletion of data, and performing management and administrative functions. SQL also includes a call-level interface (SQL/CLI) for accessing and managing data and databases remotely.

Common criticisms of SQL include a perceived lack of cross-platform portability between vendors, inappropriate handling of missing data and unnecessarily complex and occasionally ambiguous language grammar and semantics.

What SQL Is and Isn’t ?

2008-07-25T08:15:00.000-07:00

SQL is a flexible language that you can use in a variety of ways. It’s the most widely used tool for communicating with a relational database.

In this chapter, I explain what SQL is and isn’t — specifically, what distinguishes SQL from other types of computer languages. Then I introduce the commands and data types that standard SQL supports and explain key concepts: null values and constraints. Finally, I give an overview of how SQL fits into the client/server environment, as well as the Internet and organizational intranets.

What SQL Is and Isn’t
The first thing to understand about SQL is that SQL isn’t a procedural language, as are BASIC, C, C++, C#, and Java. To solve a problem in one of those procedural languages, you write a procedure that performs one specific operation after another until the task is complete. The procedure may be a linear sequence or may loop back on itself, but in either case, the programmer specifies the order of execution.

SQL, on the other hand, is nonprocedural. To solve a problem using SQL, simply tell SQL what you want (as if you were talking to Aladdin’s genie) instead of telling the system how to get you what you want. The database management system (DBMS) decides the best way to get you what you request.

All right. I just told you that SQL is not a procedural language. This is essentially true. However, millions of programmers out there (and you are probably one of them) are accustomed to solving problems in a procedural manner. So, in recent years, there has been a lot of pressure to add some procedural functionality to SQL. Thus, SQL now incorporates procedural language facilities,
such as BEGIN blocks, IF statements, functions, and procedures. These facilities have been added so you can store programs at the server, where multiple clients can use these programs repeatedly.

To illustrate what I mean by “tell the system what you want,” suppose that you have an EMPLOYEE table and you want to retrieve from that table the rows that correspond to all your senior people. You want to define a senior person as anyone older than age 40 or anyone earning more than $60,000 per year. You can make the desired retrieval by using the following query:
SELECT * FROM EMPLOYEE WHERE Age>40 OR Salary>60000 ; This statement retrieves all rows from the EMPLOYEE table where either the value in the Age column is greater than 40 or the value in the Salary column is greater than 60,000. In SQL, you don’t need to specify how the information is retrieved. The database engine examines the database and decides for
itself how to fulfill your request. You need only to specify what data you want to retrieve.

A query is a question you ask the database. If any of the data in the database satisfies the conditions of your query, SQL retrieves that data. Current SQL implementations lack many of the basic programming constructs fundamental to most other languages. Real-world applications usually require at least some of these programming constructs, which is why SQL is actually a
data sublanguage. Even with the extensions that were added in 1999, 2003, and 2005, you still need to use SQL in combination with a procedural language, such as C, to create a complete application.

You can extract information from a database in one of two ways:
Make an ad hoc query from a computer console by just typing an SQL statement and reading the results from the screen. Console is the traditional term for the computer hardware that does the job of the keyboard and screen used in current PC-based systems. Queries from the console
are appropriate when you want a quick answer to a specific question. To meet an immediate need, you may require information that you never needed before from a database. You’re likely never to need that information again either, but you need it now. Enter the appropriate SQL query statement from the keyboard, and in due time, the result appears on your screen.

Execute a program that collects information from the database and then reports on the information, either on-screen or in a printed report. Incorporating an SQL query directly into a program is a good way to run a complex query that you’re likely to run again in the future.
That way, you can formulate a query just once for use as often as you want. Chapter 15 explains how to incorporate SQL code into programs written in another language.