Systems

SQL statements are the primary means through which businesses and organizations retrieve information from the database. However, these statements aren’t always as efficiently composed as they could be, which can lead to slowdowns from the server. That’s why you hear so much about SQL query optimization—it’s a necessary process if you hope to ensure high…

Without SQL monitoring tools, database administrators have to create their own solutions for monitoring SQL database performance. This exhausting and frustrating process distracts from more important work, and these manual SQL monitoring solutions could lead to errors. Luckily, SQL monitoring software offers a faster and more effective solution. A database performance monitor for various databases,…

SQL Server is a relational database management system (RDBMS) developed by Microsoft for Windows and—in recent years—for Linux. Like other RDBMS software, SQL Server uses SQL as its query language. Specifically, it uses an SQL implementation called Transact-SQL, or T-SQL. SQL is a standard programming language for interacting with relational databases. T-SQL is slightly different…

Issues and delays caused by database performance networks are a time and money drain IT teams can’t afford. With so many performance risk factors at play (memory usage, indexing, etc.), it can be hard to determine where, when, and why a problem is occurring. Implementing SQL tools focused on performance, monitoring, and management is a…

SQL Server is a relational database management system developed by Microsoft, and it’s used for managing, storing, and changing data organized relationally. In some cases, you might want to use SQL Server on a virtual machine, but given the resource-intensive nature of the system, you need to ensure you set it up and manage it…

One of the best ways to keep your data and network secure is with server auditing, which allows you to spot abnormalities or malicious activity early on and gives you time to address it before it becomes a serious problem. To make the most of server audits, you need to know some best practices and…

Considering the widespread use of Windows file servers in enterprise settings, every IT professional should have a handle on server auditing, including the use of appropriate tools to get the job done. File server auditing ensures your file server remains secure and verifies your safety measures are adequate and not breached by any malicious actors….

When a reporting application issue occurs and users begin to complain their screens are frozen, it could be a blocking problem. This is especially likely if the issue isn’t caused by an overactive A/C vent and if users report seeing an SQL-related timeout issue. As a database administrator, you need to conduct some reactive, investigative…

Databases are at the center of most fundamental business processes. As applications become more complicated, IT infrastructures become increasingly diverse and sophisticated. This is a good thing—our IT technology is advancing, becoming more versatile and evolved. But with this evolution comes the issue of troubleshooting and problem rectification. In such wide-ranging infrastructures, finding the source…

Cloud computing is now an integral part of business IT infrastructures, and Microsoft Azure SQL is one of the forerunners in providing cloud computing services. Using Azure, you can build, test, deploy, and manage applications in your IT environment to support better service delivery with overarching service, application, and database management. No matter how useful…

Test Driven Development (TDD) is not only a discipline we like to write about, we practice it ourselves every day. This is a blog post we shared with our friends over at Rainforest QA. Because we know you can’t enough of a good thing, we’re re-posting it here. Enjoy! Librato is a prolific engineering shop….

Chances are good that you’ve encountered the “build versus buy” dilemma at some point in your professional career. With the increased popularity of hosted IT and developer-facing SaaS, the decision to outsource IT functions or build and maintain them in-house is more complicated than ever. Unfortunately, many decision makers still allow their decisions to be…

  <Syslog_output> <server> 192.168.1.1</server> </syslog_output> Many people are familiar with the above commands, which are used for forwarding syslog to the syslog server (192.168.1.1). However, do you know how syslog can be helpful? Read on to find out how and see some different use cases for enabling syslog in your infrastructure. The primary use of…

Virtualization is supposed to provide consolidation and high availability benefits for applications. So what is a hypervisor? Why are there two types of hypervisors? What’s the difference between VMware® vSphere™ and Microsoft® Hyper-V®? What exactly are Type 1 and Type 2 hypervisors? What if I just want to learn about vSphere and Hyper-V so that I can compare…

Finding a remote desktop Android application suitable for your needs can be a real challenge. This guide will help you choose the best RDP app for Android for your company, looking at both paid and free options. In reviewing these remote desktop support apps, we have focused on apps with RDP Android to Windows capabilities,…

Imagine for a moment that you have suddenly been promoted from regular old developer to senior architect, and tasked with overseeing the telemetry efforts for all of the engineering teams at your organization. I recently had a conversation at DevOps Days Toronto with someone who was living through exactly that experience. He’d just been put in…

I think we’ve all had that moment at 3:00am on over the weekend when we wish our monitoring and management systems would just shut up. The UPS in rack 4’s battery life is at 40%, we GET it. But we’ve also had that moment when we tilt our head a bit looking at a monthly…

For administrators managing assets across enterprise networks, Active Directory is one of the most important tools in their toolbox. It doesn’t matter how large or small your operation is—managing assets, users, and authorizations across your network can be a headache. While Microsoft Active Directory (AD) is pretty indispensable when it comes to keeping tabs on…

Security Groups, User Accounts, and Other AD Basics At many enterprises and SMBs that use Windows devices, IT teams are likely to use Active Directory (AD). Essentially, Active Directory is an integral part of the operating system’s architecture, allowing IT more control over access and security. AD is a centralized, standard system that allows system…

Both MySQL and Microsoft SQL Server (MSSQL) are widely used enterprise database systems. MySQL is an open-source relational database management system (RDBMS), while MSSQL is a Microsoft-developed RDBMS. Enterprises can choose between multiple MSSQL editions to suit their individual needs and budgets. Savvy programmers and database administrators (DBAs) should think carefully about the difference between…

There are plenty of benefits to virtualization, from consolidation of the number of physical servers in use to the dynamic allocation of resources. This includes clustering virtual machines for high-availability environments and provisioning new servers. There’s a certain simplicity to virtualization, which relies heavily on how effectively virtual machines are being managed and the software…