Reluctant DBA Part 5: Relationships So where does the "relational" part of "relational database management system" come into play? Imagine a Customers table that contains the following columns: ID Name Address We'll leave it at just those three to keep the example simple. Now imagine an Orders table: ID CustomerID OrderDate ShipAddress BillAddress Wait, why

Reluctant DBA Part 4: Normalization Normalization is a database concept that applies to database design, and not administration. However, it's pretty important to performance, so you need to know where database designers are coming from, and be able to tell when they're going too far. Briefly, normalization is the goal of eliminating redundant data in

Reluctant DBA Part 3: The Transaction Log The transaction log is at the heart of what SQL Server is all about. It's basically a list of changes that have been made to the database, with each change referred to as a transaction. This list is physically stored in a file with an .LDF filename extension, and in

Reluctant DBA Part 2: Terminology This week, let's nail down some SQL Server terminology - just to make sure we're all on the same page with what these words mean in the SQL Server universe. SQL Server is referred to as an RDBMS. What's that? A relational database management system, or RDBMS, is usually a

Reluctant DBA Part 1: Introduction This is a new biweekly series on SQL Server for the "reluctant DBA." You know who you are: A beleaguered Windows admin forced to support every random technology that crops up in your environment. SQL Server, in all its many editions, is a common foe of the Jack of All