Welcome to the 160th edition of Log Buffer, the weekly review of database blogs.

MySQL

Blame it on MyISAM, says Mark Callaghan of High Availability MySQL, on considering sql_mode and type coercion. “I think that MyISAM has its place,” writes Mark. “It does fast table scans, but InnoDB is much faster on just about everything else. I am just not thrilled with the impact it has had on MySQL.”

Not that those other engines are without flaw. Peter Zaitsev reports on an InnoDB performance gotcha with larger queries.

Here on the …

This is the 159th edition of Log Buffer, the weekly review of database blogs. Welcome.

MySQL

Sun’s Trent Lloyd cautions Watch out for hostname changes when using replication!, for there is a gotcha there.

Justin Swanhart was also in the cautioning business this week, saying Be careful with BETWEEN clauses, because the MySQL optimizer is not smarter than a fifth grader!. The readers say, that’s SQL.

Anyway, it’s probably unwise to underestimate the intelligence of a child. …

This is the 158th edition of Log Buffer, the weekly review of database blogs.

SQL Server

Simon Sabin has a TSQL Challenge – counting non zero columns. He says, “I’m working on a project where I need to cycle a flag amongst a set of columns. To achieve this I am storing a position value in each column which allows me to cycle them . . .  So the challenge is to find out the how many non zero columns there are, the twist is to use as little code as possible.”

On a cue from Simon, Aaron Bertrand shares …

Welcome to the 157th edition of Log Buffer, the weekly, cross-platform review of database blogs.

SQL Server

We start with Michelle Ufford, the SQL Fool, who gives us the poor (wo)man’s graph, a fast and ingenious way to create handsome text-based graphs.

What is the importance of running regular consistency checks? Paul S. Randal returns with some survey results and analysis. He writes, “The results are actually surprising – I didn’t expect so many people to be running consistency …

Welcome to the 156th edition of Log Buffer, the weekly review of database blogs.

Oracle

Jonathan Lewis gets things rolling with his post, Empiricism. Jonathan asks his readers if an empirical approach to tuning would be appropriate for a particular wait scenario.

Doug Burns was also looking into wait times, beginning, “Sometimes you think a subject is understood so well, including by yourself, that you tend to overlook it until asked to explain it. That which seems intuitive to us …

This is the 155th edition of Log Buffer, the weekly review of database blogs.

SQL Server

On the SQL Server blogs this week, CSS SQL Server Engineers demonstrated that using DateDiff can query performance problems in SQL 2005 and 2008.

The kind of problems, perhaps, that Linchi Shea examines in his post on linked server security configuration and how it can hurt you. Linchi writes, …

Welcome to the 154th edition of Log Buffer, the weekly review of database blogs. Let’s dive right in, shall we?

Oracle

On Radio Free Tooting, Andrew Clarke says, “No SQL, so what?” taking as his keynote something Nuno Souto said: “ . . . Google, Facebook, Myspace, Ning etcetc, and what they do as far as IT goes, are absolutely and totally irrelevant to the VAST majority of enterprise business.”

Aman Sharma gives an overview of Library Cache on Arista’s Oracle Blog.

On The Dutch Prutser’s Blog, …

This blog post was inspired by a recent report of a Database Analyst at American Express stealing Credit Card data.

It’s amazing how many companies still follow a mainly “perimeter security” approach when it comes to controlling access to sensitive information—their focus is on network security using firewalls, advanced authentication options, and so on. Even with such measures, it’s very common to setup strong barriers to the outside world but very little by way of internal limits; most internal people have some level of access to servers that store and process sensitive data.

Well, there’s nothing wrong with pre-screening your stuff, or having access to the sensitive information, or setting up advanced …

This is the 153rd edition of Log Buffer, the weekly review of database blogs.

Let’s start by revisiting a perennial issue with Craig Mullins addresses with the question, Are DBAs Obsolete? “Before we go any further, let me briefly answer the question posed in the title of this blog entry: ‘No Way!’,” writes Craig. “Every time I hear this it makes me shake my head sadly as I regard just how gullible IT publications can be.” He argues that an Internet-paced attitude regarding the work of the DBA may be the first culprit in the devaluation of the DBA’s work.

Oracle

Dion Cho, the Oracle Performance Storyteller, …

Welcome to the 152nd edition of Log Buffer, the weekly review of database blogs.

PostgreSQL

Courtesy the United States PostgreSQL Association, the big news: PostgreSQL 8.4 Released!.

Josh Berkus writes, “Now that PostgreSQL 8.4 is out, I thought I’d write a little about my favorite 8.4 feature. As Mr. Performance Whack-a-Mole, what makes me happy about 8.4 is the ability to whack moles faster … which is why I’m very fond of pg_stat_statements.”

On ad’s corner, …