Is my string a number?

I have been recently devoting a-lot of time answering questions on STACKOVERFLOW. Many times, you are just helping and/or teaching younger SQL Server developers and/or administrators the tricks of the trade. Sometimes you come across a GEM, a question that you can blog about so that when they are asked again, you have a well constructed answer. One classic questions asked by new database developers is whether or not the user input is a number? I thought it was an excellent opportunity to review what tools are available given a…

Staying Connected

There are many companies in the world that have offices in remote locations. Sometimes downloading software media from Microsoft or Oracle might take minutes if not hours. During this time, your terminal session with the remote computer might time out. How do you prevent this from happening? The windows server operating system allows two concurrent remote desktop (RDP) connections. However, there are out of the box settings that automatically determine idle session limit and when to disconnected a user. I am including a link to MSDN that describes remote desktop…

Custom Maintenance Plans using Ola Hallengren Scripts

I am looking forward to my first live presentation for the PASS Database Administration Virtual Chapter next week. If you are interested in the topic, please register for the webinar on Wednesday, January 22, 2014 at Noon, Eastern Standard time. Registration is required and you will be automatically entered in a raffle for a $50 Amazon gift card. Topic: Designing Custom Maintenance Plans using the Ola Hallengren Scripts Abstract: Have you ever received a call from a client asking for help when their SQL Server database is corrupted? You suggest…

Installing Windows PowerShell

PowerShell comes installed as part of the operating system in Windows 7. I checked my system which is a base install of Windows 7 SP1. The ISE or integrated scripting envrionment is the place to code, debug and launch scripts. To open the development environment, type powershell_ise at the run or command prompt to launch the application. At this point, you have to decide if you can live with the current version or install the new version. There are two commands that can be used to find the version. The…

2014 Goal Statement

I just finished blog entry two hundred seventy in December 2013. It is quite an accomplishment since it takes one or two hours to research and design to compose an good article. I figured it was time to reset my goals for the upcoming year. Here is what I am planning for this year. 1 – Have answered a total of 400 questions at Stack Overflow. My total right now is 188 answers. That means I need to respond 212 times in the next year. 2 – Have completed a…