Gerry O’Brien mentions that two beta exams for SQL 2008 are available until 31st July.
I’m not sure if I want to try these or not. I don’t mind doing beta exams (especially as they’re free), but I’m not that confident I’d do that well with the 2008 stuff yet.
I’ve had a couple of correspondences from Red Gate about some updates for some of their applications that I’ve mentioned previously here – SQL Compare and ANTS Profiler.
Richard Collins wrote to say that SQL Compare v7 is being released this month, and will include SQL Server 2008 compatibility as well as being able to compare against backups.
Regarding my comments about version control for database schemas, he said the following:
“I just thought I might mention that v.6 of SQL Compare also includes the ability to compare with a folder of sql scripts under source control (optionally via an add-in called SQL Changeset) which
I believe will help with your problem of updating from multiple possible versions.”
Stephen Chambers also dropped me a line to mention that they’re working on ANTS Profiler v4. Pre-release builds are free and can be downloaded via their support forum.
What a nice way to start the day! I passed the Designing and Developing Web-Based Applications by Using the Microsoft .NET Framework exam scoring 825.
So I’m now a Microsoft Certified Professional Developer: Web Developer :-)
A few months ago I was visiting our local library, when I noticed some interesting kits behind the the desk. They turned out to be "Home Energy Action Toolkits" (which has an acronym of HEAT!). I put my name down on the list, and finally last week it was my turn to borrow one of the kits.
They include the following items:
I was primarily interesting in using the power meter to gauge how much power various appliances use in our home.
Here's what I discovered:
| Appliance | Standby (Watts) | On (Watts) |
|---|---|---|
| DVD Player | 2.1 | 12 |
| VCR | 5.6 | 16 |
| CRT TV | n/a | 56 |
| 2400 W Heater | 1.3 | 960/1370/2210 (low/med/high) |
| CD Cassette Radio 1 | 5.3 | 8.5/6.5/6.3 (Cd/Tape/Radio) |
| CD Cassette Radio 2 | 4.0 | 5.9/5.3 (Tape/Radio) |
| Computer + CRT Monitor | 8.5 | 160 |
| Computer speakers | 2 | 3.6 |
| Small CRT TV | n/a | 44 |
| 1000 W Heater | n/a | 960 |
| Camera battery charger | 0.4 | |
| Automatic garage roller door | 10.4 | 100 |
| Mobile phone charger | 0.2 | |
| Microwave oven | 5.4 | 1550 |
| ADSL Modem | n/a | 8.3 |
| VoIP ATA | n/a | 2.9 |
Two other appliances were also measured, using a feature of the power meter which calculates running costs by allowing you to enter in the cost per kilowatt hour (I used 17.99 cents). The results were very interesting:
| Dishwasher | 14.44 cents per standard cycle |
| Bread machine | 8.3 cents to make 1.25Kg loaf |
So it probably is cheaper to make your own bread after all.
As a family we’re not too bad at turning off things that we’re not using. We’ve also started the move to compact fluorescent lights, and I intend to make use of a service like Envirosaver, which will come out and replace all your incandescent bulbs with CF ones for free.
CodeCampSA is on again, over the weekend of July 12-13th.
The speaker list looks impressive:
(Yes, I've put up my hand again!)
The event is free, but to assist organisers you're encouraged to register your interest. There's also a dinner at Marcellina's in Hindley St on the Saturday night which sounds great.
I'm definitely going on Saturday - will have to see about Sunday though.
Updated Jason’s surname, and added links to speaker blogs – let me know if I’ve missed someone.
Microsoft have just released a couple of new security tools that might be useful, especially if you’re still running some legacy ASP applications.
UrlScan has been around for quite a while, so I’ll be interested to see what new features are part of v3.
Getting your code into a version control repository is relatively easy. Doing the same for your database schema has historically been a bit trickier. I think this is partly because modern databases (like Microsoft SQL Server) come with quite useable graphical interfaces, which means that you can make many significant changes without ever writing a line of SQL.
The good thing though is that all of these changes are done using SQL, so version control is usually about keeping versions of the SQL scripts.
Some common techniques include:
Creating the initial database isn't too bad, but pushing out updates can be more difficult, especially if you need to deal with updating from different possible versions.
One tool that might prove in solving this problem is DBDeploy.NET - a port to .NET of the Java-based dbDeploy.
I needed to download some files from SourceForge earlier this week, and what a pleasant surprise it was to see that Internode is now hosting the Australian mirror.
Even better, it is unmetered for Internode customers (such as myself), and means that the 4.7Tb of SourceForge files are available to download super-quick. Not that I want to download 4.7Tb all at once mind you!
After attending Sasha's talk at the Adelaide SQL Server User Group yesterday, it inspired me to get the ball rolling in preparing for my own presentation, which is pencilled in for August.
Figuring it would be appropriate to try and use as many of the "2008" products as possible, I planned to install Windows Server 2008 and then plonk Visual Studio 2008 and the just-released SQL Server 2008 on top.
I downloaded Virtual PC 2007 SP1 (which was updated to support Server 2008) and then ran the installer.
To my surprise, a dialog appeared saying "You are not running on a supported operating system".
Hang on, I'm running Windows XP with SP3. Double check the system requirements, and yes, it does list XP SP3.
Now I used to run Virtual PC just fine before I reinstalled the OS a few months ago, so what's changed?
Ah ha! I was running Windows XP Professional before, and now I'm just running XP Home - that's what's different! While it doesn't explicitly mention "Professional" on the web page, it is more specific in the installed help file:
Windows Vista™ Business; Windows Vista™ Enterprise; Windows Vista™ Ultimate; Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition; Windows Server 2003, Standard x64 Edition; Windows XP Professional; Windows XP Professional x64 Edition; or Windows XP Tablet PC Edition
But having said that, when they say "not supported", at least they don't appear to mean "doesn't work".
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