Geocode Addresses in T-SQL

This article shows how you can "geocode" street address information natively in T-SQL with MS SQL 2005, and as a byproduct, how you can validate, normalize, and parse address information.

Note that this approach will work in SQL 2008 as well, though SQL 2008 provides geospatial types and functions that could be used in lieu of the numeric data type used here.

Geocoding is the process of converting a geographical address into latitude and longitude (GPS coordinates). Geocoding address information has a number of benefits:

• Means to interoperate with web-based mapping services
• Means to interoperate with GPS devices
• Makes it possible to calculate distance between addresses
• Makes geospatial analysis possible (i.e. identifying geographically similar addresses, etc.
• Compact way to represent a geographical location
• And more...

Map IP Address to a Geographical Location

On the Internet there is the concept of web site analytics that helps track all the visitors' activities and usage patterns. One of the dimensions to track is the geographical information of the visitors, which can be obtained by using the IP address information that is collected when a user lands on a Website. In this article, I will describe a simple process that enables your reporting system to display the geographical information of the visitors.

Help, my database is corrupt. Now what?

A corrupt database is probably one of most DBA's worst nightmares. It results in downtime, managers shouting and all other sorts of unpleasant things

In this article, I'm going to explain some of the things not to do to a corrupt database, and then go through some of the things that should be done, some of the scenarios and the fixes for those.

Reporting Services Disaster Recovery

Many organizations now rely on their reporting solutions for day-to-day business as much as the underlying OLTP systems. For some organizations, being able to report on data in real time can be as important as the availability of their underlying OLTP systems. So like any important database solution, you need to plan on how to recover your reporting solution quickly and efficiently, to keep your business running smoothly. For most medium and small companies, that will mean using the tools available to you with SQL Standard Edition.

In this article I will show you how to setup a Reporting Services solution that will allow you to quickly switch from one server to another, should your primary report server / report server database fail or should you need to switch your service to allow you to carry out server maintenance tasks, reducing downtime of the live system.

Managing Data Growth in SQL Server

'Help, my database ate my disk drives!'. Many DBAs spend most of their time dealing with variations of the problem of database processes consuming too much disk space. This happens because of errors such as incorrect configurations for recovery models, data growth for large objects and queries that overtax TempDB resources. Rodney describes, with some feeling, the errors that can lead to this sort of crisis for the working DBA, and their solution.

http://www.simple-talk.com/sql/database-administration/managing-data-growth-in-sql-server/?utm_source=simpletalk&utm_medium=email&utm_content=DataGrowth-20100125&utm_campaign=SQL

Eating SQL Server Installations for Breakfast

Here you will find wholesome SQL Server installations on the menu, complete with Express, Continental and Deluxe breakfast choices, depending on your application’s appetite. This is the article where your new SQL Server installation is completely yours, having not as yet been turned over to the general populace of developers or users. Enjoy it while you can: From the SQL Server Tacklebox

http://www.simple-talk.com/sql/database-administration/eating-sql-server-installations-for-breakfast/

Laying out SQL Code

It is important to ensure that SQL code is laid out the best way for the team that has to use and maintain it. Before you work out how to enforce a standard, one has to work out what that standard should be for the application. So do you dive into detail or create an overall logic to the way it is done?

http://www.simple-talk.com/sql/t-sql-programming/laying-out-sql-code/