The database system in a company that is growing internationally must support multilingual characters in tables with Unicode data types. Existing databases that support only non-Unicode information must be migrated from non-Unicode data type to Unicode data type. This paper summarizes best practices for migrating database systems from non-Unicode ...

Many-to-many dimension relationships in SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services (SSAS) enable you to easily model complex source schemas and provide great analytical capabilities. This capability frequently comes with a substantial cost in query performance due to the runtime join required by Analysis Services to resolve many-to-many queries. This best ...

Scale-Out Querying with Analysis Services Using SAN Snapshots

Identifying and Resolving MDX Query Performance Bottlenecks in SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services There are a variety of things that you can do to improve the performance of an individual MDX query. To begin, you must identify the source(s) of the performance bottlenecks in the execution of a poorly performing MDX query. To identify the source(s) ...

Summary: SSAS uses partitions to contain cube data.  Small cubes might use only one, but for non trivial cubes, cube designers will create partitions based on ease of managing data and to split groups of data.  This document discusses how the server uses ''slices'' to examine partitions at query time.  The ...

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/sql/bestpractice/default.mspx Get the real-world guidelines, expert tips, and rock-solid guidance to take your SQL Server implementation to the next level. Drawing on the extensive experience and expertise from respected developers and engineers at Microsoft as they walk you through the specifics on ...

Overview SQL Server’s 2005 Analysis Services has introduced several changes to the MDX queries syntax that can lead to better performance than the equivalent AS 2000 queries.   Here is a list of tips and tricks as well as best practices on how to get better performance from your MDX queries in AS2005. Details For filtering a set, use ...

SQLCAT Blog:  Managing Schema Changes (Part 2)   Question: What are best practices for managing schema changes in SQL Server 2005?  What are the fastest, least intrusive techniques for high availability?    Answer:  In Part 1, we outlined the behavior of SQL Server 2005 schema changes.  In Part 2, we will ...

Question: What are best practices for managing schema changes in SQL Server 2005?  What are the fastest, least intrusive techniques for high availability?   Answer: A common requirement as business requirements evolve over time is managing schema changes.  While SQL Server 2005 supports the changing of schema (e.g. adding columns ...

Lubor Kollar   Partition elimination is very important when SQL Server executes queries against partitioned tables or partitioned views. In general, SQL Server is doing an excellent job of not scanning the partitions that are excluded by some predicates. Recently we have discovered one scenario where the partition elimination does not work ...