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Creating a Hybrid Disaster Recovery Solution Utilizing Availability Group and Log-Shipping

SQL Server Always on availability group is a great addition to SQL Server for providing high availability and disaster recovery. Always-on availability group support failover the environment for a discrete set of user databases, known as availability databases, that failover together. They also support a set of read-write primary databases and several sets of corresponding secondary databases. Optionally, AGs can make secondary databases available for read-only access and some backup operations.  

SQL Server log shipping is another popular disaster recovery solution that utilizes transaction log backups shipped from a primary database on a primary SQL server instance to one or more secondary databases on separate secondary SQL server instances. The transaction log backups are applied to each secondary database individually to obtain a synchronized database as primary.

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Recovering an MS SQL Database From Suspect Mode: Step-By-Step Guide

The SQL database is always in one of the modes: online, offline, suspect, storing, recovery pending, and emergency. When the SQL database recovery fails, or the database becomes damaged or corrupted, it moves to suspect mode. When the database is marked as SUSPECT mode, the database is unavailable for user access. You can recover the database from the suspected state using different commands in SSMS. In this article, we’ll cover what causes the database to go to suspect mode and its recovery methods. Also, we’ll outline an advanced MS SQL repair tool to help you quickly restore the database from suspect mode without data loss.

Reasons for SQL Server Marked As” Suspect Mode”

The SQL Server database suspect mode indicates the recovery process has started but failed to finish. The database states may become suspect due to several reasons. Some of them are below:  

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AI for Testers

The excitement surrounding artificial intelligence has undeniably captured the attention of testers, much like it has for engineers and professionals across the IT landscape. As we step into 2024, the question arises: What does the future hold for testers in the realm of AI? I recall posing a similar question back in 2018 when the prevalence of cloud computing became an imperative and indispensable component, compelling every software solution and professional to adapt in order to remain pertinent in the ever-evolving IT landscape.

Like any dedicated professional, staying attuned to and upskilling with the evolving times not only provides a strategic advantage for personal growth but also positions you ahead of the curve. Since 2020, artificial intelligence (AI) has undergone an observational phase. However, in the past year or so, a notable shift has occurred with the emergence of simulation and democratization, manifested through innovative chatbots and tools. These tools claim to seamlessly integrate with your existing test automation setup, enhancing productivity for testers. Despite the promising advancements, the lack of concrete case studies demonstrated some reluctance to go out all at once.

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The Ultimate Guide To Repair MySQL Database

One of the day-to-day tasks of database administrators is to keep the MySQL Server up and running. They have to also ensure that the database remains healthy. 

However, even after taking all the precautions, situations arise that can lead to corruption in the database. 

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PyCharm Fix for Certificate Verify Failed: Unable To Get Local Issuer Certificate

When your organization installs a security monitoring app like Zscaler on your workstation, it could hinder your productivity by blocking many existing third-party apps you have been using for your development or testing deliverables. 

In many cases, once installed, you will have no problem accessing public URLs via browser but will still face challenges when trying to access via terminal or IDE. Although when organizations install security apps, they add company-generated certificates in the system cert, some applications like Java, Python, IDE, NPM, etc. do not use default system cert and have their own custom trust store, which fails to validate Zscaler-generated server certificates, and the TLS connection fails.

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Which One Gives You Higher ROI: API Automation or UI Automation?

In the world of software testing, organizations are continually seeking ways to optimize their testing processes, improve efficiency, and enhance overall product quality. One effective strategy gaining traction is shifting the testing focus from User Interface (UI) automation to Application Programming Interface (API) automation. This shift brings numerous advantages, including faster execution, increased test coverage, improved stability, enhanced reusability, earlier bug detection, and improved maintainability. Let's delve deeper into how emphasizing API automation can significantly enhance testing efficiency.

  1. Faster Execution: API automation tests outpace UI automation tests in terms of speed. By eliminating the need for rendering and interacting with UI components, API calls are lighter and execute more swiftly. Consequently, this leads to shorter test execution times, facilitating quicker feedback cycles and expediting the overall testing process.
  2. Increased Test Coverage: APIs expose a broad range of functionalities and endpoints that can be independently tested. By shifting the focus to API automation, testers can achieve comprehensive coverage of the application's functionality. This includes testing scenarios that may be challenging to replicate or test solely through the UI. As a result, the testing efforts become more thorough, uncovering potential issues that could have been overlooked by relying solely on UI automation.
  3. Improved Stability and Reliability: UI automation tests often suffer from fragility due to UI layout changes, CSS modifications, or browser-specific issues. Conversely, API automation focuses on the backend functionality, which tends to be more stable. By relying more on API automation, testing efforts become more resilient to UI changes, resulting in improved stability and reliability of the tests. This stability allows testers to focus on true application behavior rather than being distracted by superficial UI changes.
  4. Enhanced Reusability: APIs provide standardized interfaces for interacting with applications, enabling the creation of reusable automation code. With well-designed API automation frameworks, testers can build libraries and modules that can be easily leveraged across multiple test scenarios and even different applications with similar APIs. The reusability of API automation code significantly reduces redundancy, effort, and maintenance costs associated with UI automation scripts.
  5. Earlier Bug Detection: API testing can be initiated at an early stage of the development process, as APIs are often available before the full UI implementation. By shifting the testing weight towards API automation, organizations can identify and rectify issues related to data validation, request/response handling, and business logic earlier in the development cycle. Detecting bugs at an early stage reduces the likelihood of these issues cascading to the UI layer, saving time and effort in later stages.
  6. Improved Maintainability: Maintaining UI automation tests can be challenging, particularly when the UI undergoes frequent changes. UI modifications often require corresponding updates to test scripts, leading to increased maintenance efforts. By emphasizing API automation, which is less affected by UI changes, organizations can achieve a more stable and maintainable test suite. This streamlined maintenance process allows testers to focus on actual functional changes rather than constantly updating UI automation scripts.

Conclusion

The paradigm shift towards emphasizing API automation in software testing offers a multitude of benefits, including faster execution, increased test coverage, improved stability and reliability, enhanced reusability, earlier bug detection, and improved maintainability. By leveraging the power of APIs, organizations can optimize their testing processes, allocate resources more efficiently, and deliver higher-quality software products. Striking the right balance between UI automation and API automation will enable testing teams to achieve comprehensive and efficient testing, resulting in robust and reliable applications.

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Rebuild System Databases in SQL Server

In this article, we will talk about system database corruption. It means that one or more system databases are corrupted. Corruption in system databases, such as master databases, is a big problem because SQL Server will stop. Let’s see how to fix this problem. 

About System Databases

System databases are databases used internally by SQL Server and are necessary for its operation.

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SQL Server Fast Recovery: What Is It and When Is It Needed?

Fast recovery is a feature in SQL Server Enterprise edition that allows accessing a database once the REDO (i.e., committed transactions are rolled forward) phase completes before the UNDO (i.e., uncommitted transactions are rolled back) phase gets complete. This article will talk in detail about the SQL Server Fast Recovery feature, when it is used, and when it can't be used. Also, the article discusses an alternative to performing a database restoration when Fast Recovery fails.

Before We Proceed

Let’s have a quick overview of the SQL Server recovery process that comprises of the following three phases:

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Five Tips for SQL DBAs to Work Efficiently in Production Environment

Working efficiently in a production environment where even a minor change can have a profound impact on performance, there are some tips you can follow to ensure the best possible database performance. In this article, we will discuss five tips to make the job of an SQL Server DBA easier in a production environment.

1. Use the Maintenance Cleanup Task Utility To Delete Old Backups

While backups are an important part of an effective recovery plan, frequent backups can cause issues if the available storage space is limited. In such a situation, deleting old backups can help clear the storage space. The Maintenance Cleanup Task feature (in SQL Server 2005 and later versions) available in the Maintenance Plan Wizard can help remove obsolete database backup files.