Archives
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Java Access to SQL Azure via the JDBC Driver for SQL Server
I’ve written a couple of posts (here and here) about Java and the JDBC Driver for SQL Server with the promise of eventually writing about how to get a Java application running on the Windows Azure platform. In this post, I’ll deliver on that promise. Specifically, I’ll show you two things: 1) how to connect to a SQL Azure Database from a Java application running locally, and 2) how to connect to a SQL Azure database from an application running in Windows Azure. You should consider these as two ordered steps in moving an application from running locally against SQL Server to running in Windows Azure against SQL Azure. In both steps, connection to SQL Azure relies on the JDBC Driver for SQL Server and SQL Azure.
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This Week’s Link List (March 18, 2011)
A shorter than usual list this week as I didn’t have as much time to read, but the quantity is eclipsed by the importance (and in some cases, weight) of some of the news…
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Windows Azure Command Line Tools for PHP and web.config Files
Last week, Ben Waine blogged about a problem he ran into when using the Windows Azure Command Line Tools for PHP to deploy a Zend Framework application to Windows Azure. As I investigated the problem further, I was able to generalize it and offer a work around, which is what I’ll explain in this post. (My work around is essentially the same as Ben’s, but my hope is that explaining it in the context of the generalized problem you will be able to avoid headaches when deploying any application to Azure, not just Zend Framework applications.)
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Architecture of the Microsoft JDBC Driver for SQL Server
I recently began investigating the Microsoft JDBC Driver for SQL Server (see my Getting Started with the SQL Server JDBC Driver post for more information). In this post I’ll continue that investigation by looking at the architecture and history of the driver. While the information in this post may not all be immediately useful when building Java applications, I found it interesting to learn.
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This Week’s Link List (March 11, 2011)
As evidenced by the number of “Just for Fun” links, this wasn’t my most productive week (but it was fun). Now, I didn’t spend all my time playing…I read lots of intelligence-enhancing posts…I just hope some of it sticks…
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Interview with Julian Egelstaff, Technical Architect at Freeform Solutions
I recently had a chance to catch up with Julian Egelstaff, Technical Architect at Freeform Solutions. Julian attended last year’s SQL Server JumpIn! Camp where he worked with Microsoft engineers and other participants to add SQL Server support to Formulize, a PHP application that lets you to quickly create forms and reports in your website. Julian is the co-founder of Freeform Solutions, has 10 years of PHP development experience, and is a Zend Certified Engineer.
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SQL Server Driver for PHP Connection Options: Encrypt
This short post adds to my series on connection options in the SQL Server Driver for PHP. I’ll go into a bit more detail on the Encrypt and TrustServerCertificate options than the driver documentation does. I’ll start with three important points related to these options, then I’ll go into a couple of hypothetical situations that should shed more light on what these options actually do.
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This Week’s Link List (March 4, 2011)
This week’s list is long. I highly recommend the first two links…both are interesting reads…I would be interested in comments from readers. Otherwise, I hope the categories help you find other interesting reads (but I don’t think you can lose)…
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SQL Server Driver for PHP Connection Options: Failover_Partner
One of the best things about writing this series on connection options for the SQL Server Driver for PHP is that I get to learn about lots of interesting SQL Server features. This time, the Failover_Partner connection option has led me to do a bit of homework on database mirroring. The short story is that as an application developer you don’t really need to understand much about database mirroring…it’s a DBA concern. Of course, if you are both app dev and DBA and have the need for a failover database, then you might want to invest some time in learning more about mirroring than I'll go into (the MSDN documentation starts here). In this post, I'll provide an introduction to mirroring and hopefully give you enough information about the Failover_Partner option for you to send your DBA an intelligent email in case something goes wrong.
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Getting Started with the SQL Server JDBC Driver
Okay, okay. I know that Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) doesn’t have much (if anything) to do with PHP, so I apologize in advance if you are tuning in expecting to find something PHP-related. However, I temper my apology with the idea that getting out of your comfort zone is generally beneficial to your growth. The fun part is that it is very often beneficial in ways you cannot predict. So, with that said, I’m embarking on an investigation of the SQL Server JDBC Driver in hopes that I will learn something new (maybe even many things). I do not plan to stop writing about PHP, so consider this trip to be a jaunt down a side street. In addition to my usual PHP-related content, I’ll aim to make Java/JDBC-related posts a couple times each month as I learn new and interesting things. But, when you start walking down side streets, you never know where you’ll end up…