Something for the Weekend – SQL Server Links 15/03/13

It’s SFTW Time, I hope you’ve had a great week!

The news this week that Google Reader is shutting down means that RSS consumers need to start looking for an alternative way to enjoy your favourite subscriptions, including SFTW. Of course the best way to make sure you get to enjoy every single post as soon as it’s published is to Subscribe to free post delivery by Email.

I would recommend that you start considering alternative RSS Readers now so that you don’t get caught out when Google Reader is shut down. The following article over on LifeHacker looks at some alternative readers, as well as provides instruction on how you can migrate your existing subscriptions to your new Reader of choice.

Personally I like to use Feedly for consuming content, particularly on the iPad. It looks fantastic and has a glossy magazine feel to it but I will need to find a more robust and similar alternative to Google Reader for content curation, such as creating this weekly post for you lot. What feed Reader will you be choosing?

Here’s your weekly roundup of SQL Server Blog Posts, News and Technology Stuff. Enjoy….

• Filegroups and Non-Clustered Indexes – Demonstrating why your non-clustered indexes might not be stored where you think, it’s Rob Farley (Blog|Twitter).
• Databases Five Years from Today – Predicting your future this week from Brent Ozar (Blog|Twitter). Are you on the right path?
• A TOP Query – An excellent and insightful T-SQL walk-through from Rob Farley (Blog|Twitter),  looking at query optimization considerations around the use of the TOP operator filtered with a function.
• Log Shipping Part 2: When Disaster Strikes (video) – Part 2 of this excellent video series looking at Log Shipping, from Jes Borland (Blog|Twitter).
• Administering Sql Server 2012 Running On Windows Server Core – Don’t be a wuss! Thomas Larock (Blog|Twitter) on why you need to quit being afraid and start getting to grips with Windows Server Core.
• Moving A Database to New Storage With No Downtime – A fantastic, well written post from Bob Pusateri (Blog|Twitter) and part of this months T-SQL Tuesday theme.
• Query Optimization Research Papers – A valuable collection of references and good reading from Benjamin Nevarez (Blog|Twitter).
• So You Think You’re a SQL MCM. Test yourself Part 1 – So you fancy your chances as a SQL Server MCM? Bob Duffy (Blog|Twitter) provides this litmus test.
• SQL Server Table Designer Bug with Filtered Unique Index – Adrian Hills (Blog|Twitter) uncovers a bug when working with the SSMS Table Designer. If this presents a problem for you too then be sure to vote for the Connect item.
• Creating a Clustered DTC for SQL Server Redux – Allan Hirt (Blog|Twitter) extends his initial instruction, refining for those with servers already in Production.
• Use PowerShell and Conditional Formatting to Format Dates – Some PowerShell magic courtesy of the Scripting Guy.

Make sure you don’t miss this weekly round-up of SQL Server Links, community news and technology banter by Subscribing to the Blog Feed.

You can also Get posts delivered direct to your Inbox free via Email.

Community Forum Conversations

These are some of the discussions going on right now in the SQLBrit Community Forum

• You’re a Recruitment Consultant and You Suck
• Memory Pressure
• Prometric Certification
• Share Your Favourite Performance Scripts

Misc. Technology Posts

• Ten pi-fect projects for your new Raspberry Pi – TheRegister
• Microsoft: Overheating caused Outlook and Hotmail shutdown – BBC News Technology
• Modder hacks SimCity for unlimited offline play – TheRegister
• Call of Duty dominates 2012 entertainment sales beating music and film – BBC News Technology