Using the Data Dictionary to find hidden data in SQL Server

A client asked me recently how he could find a string in his SQL Server database without knowing what table or column it was in. The string was a translation of a code that appeared on one of the UI screens. This was a packaged CRM database and he had no documentation on the schema. […]

Five Leading Causes of Oracle Database Performance Problems

As we evaluate our clients’ Oracle databases and help them solve problems relating to performance and stability, we see many causes for these issues. However, there are a small number of basic issues that tend to cause problems on the majority of systems. Our Tech Tips document describes these issues and discusses methods of identifying them and resolving […]

Oracle Security — Data Masking using Enterprise Manager

Database administrators often have to provide test data sets to developers, QA teams, or UAT teams. This can be done manually creating test data sets, which can take a very long time especially when the goal is to stress test a new system and a large amount of data is required. An alternative approach often taken by […]

Storing documents in a MongoDB database instead of the file system

We are currently working on an application that uses a mysql database. The application produces a large number of csv files that must be kept around for a few weeks, and then removed after being used in various ways by the users of the system. We need to keep track of all of these files and […]