Back in May (2014) I decided to start up a blog, again. I decided to keep it simple and just get a off the shelf hosting package rather then going to extremes like I normally do – configuring a VPS or even a Dedi server! I ended up going with CS New Media – it was just their lite Linux package which I signed up for 3 months. I was tempted to stick with what I know and go with Mythic-Beasts like I normally but I like to tinker and try new things so I went with CS New Media after a failed attempt to spend my dosh with NameCheap – when it came to entering my card details, it just failed to connect to “their” backend and their response was, well it works for me, try another browser – by the time I phoned them I had already tried different browsers, internet connections, computers so at that point I just walked away....

Well my day is finally coming to an end, my bed is calling me after a long day. If I had thought about it more I would have packed a few cans of Pepsi Max and probability took a half day at work, as it was I spent my lunch break by coming home and taking my son to the park*, then heading off to Cambridge after work for mine and my colleagues first Cambridgeshire SQL Server User Group....

I’ve currently been working on a PowerShell script to build a virtual server using DigitalOcean excellent RESTful API. So far this has gone extremely well and I have been impressed with both PowerShell and DigitalOcean’s API. Today however I tried running on another machine (an important part of development) only to find it doesn’t work. The first error that appears is: The term ‘Invoke-WebRequest’ is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable progr...

Another little gem, clearing out those pesky recent projects from your menu on Visual Studio 2012. Fire up RegEdit and navigate to: Files: HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Visual Studio\11.0\FileMRUList\ Proj: HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Visual Studio\11.0\ProjectMRUList\ Usual disclaimer http://nathondalton.wordpress.com/2011/10/13/clear-visual-studio-recent-project-and-files/

Found this little gem – appears they actually made those really cool interfaces they used in Tron Legacy: http://www.robscanlon.com/encom-boardroom/

I’ve created a new SQL user along with a new role in our warehouse db project using Visual Studio 2012. CREATE LOGIN [newuser] WITHPASSWORD=’{{ RANDOM PASSWORD }}’,DEFAULT_DATABASE=[Database] GO CREATE USER [newuser] FORLOGIN [newuser] WITHDEFAULT_SCHEMA=[dbo] GO ALTER ROLE [newrole] ADD MEMBER [newuser] GO Problem is, the user is disabled. When you do it manually via SQL Management Studio, it’s enabled and working. Manually enabling the account doesn’t allow it connect either. A quick Google revealed:...

In my day job I’ve been looking at SQL Server 2012 recently (I know SQL Server 2014 out before you say anything!), I’ve had a developer license for a while but unfortunately other priorities have been consuming my time and I’ve only managed to get a dev server build, SQL 2012 installed and not much else up till a few days ago. Our current Business Intelligence platform is using SQL Server 2008 (not R2) for the database backend and SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) BIDS for the ETL....

I received NameCheap newsletter today full of annoying holes (at least for me), needless to say I hit the unsubscribe button shortly after. First mistake – mark your calendars. Did they not check their calendar before sending it? The June 10 was 2 weeks ago! $1, one dollar!! You’re trying to promote .UK, use the local currency, using £ (GBP)! Final mistake I notice (I didn’t look very hard to be honest) was the “SCHOOLSOUT” code....

Well it appears Capita has announced SOLUS2 death day That’s assuming they don’t put it back. Again. This is bad news. Let me explain why. I’m using Chrome, it’s updated itself I don’t know how many times. If I go and check, all I know or care about is that it is indeed up-to-date, so at some point, it’s updated itself and its worked. If I look at my antivirus I can see it’s updated 3 times today alone....

I haven’t really been on SupportNet, Capita SIMS support portal, regularly since changing roles about 20 months ago, the only time I pop on nowadays is to find something when I’m helping out my old team during busyhard times (you never really escape at my work). On this occasion I stopped by the forum and one thing jumped out at me. The lack of progress. Now I appreciate I’m about to unload both barrels into my foot, but I think it needs to be said....

One of the things you’ll find when your going to interviews for your first job after leaving education is that they ask the same types of questions. The main one that feels me with dread is “Give an example of good customer service you have provided”. I hate that question. Hopefully your interviewer would have been kinda enough to at least state that, as you are ill experienced, you might want to give examples of good customer service you have received....

I have to say I’m really liking Twitter. A lot of my friends can’t see the point. As a social tool it allows gossip to flow really well, how often do we hear that a celeb has tweeted a inappropriate comment or photo. It allows us fans to be alot more closer. As a business tool it allows a new way of interaction, take this example – there is a bug in ....

An interesting debate erupted on EduGeek this month after Graham Reed, a technologist, made a post on Eduware Consulting blog about the changing data landscape and how he saw Department of Education (DfE) data exchange and warehouse projects changing the way MIS work and the way they are used. Now of course we need to take it with a pinch of salt, firstly, this is very much early days. At the moment it’s a vision looking to become a project, and we all know how government projects end up post election time....

One of the common questions I used to get asked whilst supporting SIMS .net was, do I need Full SQL. SIMS .net uses Microsoft SQL Server as it’s relational database management system (RDBMS) so it’s important to ensure the engine is correctly sized for job at hand. Microsoft SQL Server has come in a number of editions over the years, I won’t detail all the various editions but the two editions schools should be concerned with is Express and Standard....