Master of None

Blown away with this product for compression of SQL Server backups (http://www.hyperbac.com/products/sqlserver/).  I’m testing a eval copy on some development servers now and really impressed with the results.  There is a hit on the CPU , but it reduces the time to backup , the size of the backup and you can even restore from the backup files without extracting them first.

Basically, it creates a service that uses native WIN Api which monitors io system for the creation of certain file types. The monitoring can be configured for specific types and paths. When a monitored extension is used in a native SQl server T-SQL backup command that is to write a file to one of the monitored file extensions. it steps in to broker the I/O Stream to disk. It does not alter you system or user databases or add sql objects. It’s down in the file I/O level.   Pretty awesome. 

The licensing model is by physical or virtual server and not by CPU, etc. Sent an inquiry to the support department and got a response back promptly.  Wish that would happen with the folks we already paid for teh product and support.  UPDATE — They Even Followed up a few days later.

Read more…

Calculating the distance between ZIP codes has become a common feature in search engines. For instance, if you’re searching for restaurants, a Web site will often allow you to enter a ZIP code and display all of the restaurants within X miles of that ZIP code. Here is one way application developers to implement a ZIP code distance calculator using the .NET Framework and C#.

This article uses a derivation of the Haversine formula to calculate the distance between ZIP codes. The Haversine formula is used to determine the distance between two points on a sphere – in this case the earth. While this isn’t 100 percent accurate due to the earth not being a perfect sphere, it is probably as close as you’re going to get without getting out the tape measure!

Author: Zach Smith
Find TechRepublic Article Here.

Download PDF and Code Here