Hosting CLR code (and snow) in SQL Server 2005

Hosting CLR code (and snow) in SQL Server 2005

As Paschal reports, Monday night’s INDA discussion topic was the use of the CLR in SQL Server 2005. Nick Grattan gave a characteristically thoughtful talk that walked us through the steps involved in hosting .Net assemblies on SQL Server.

Nick’s also already blogged the answer to my burning question, which was: what are the proposed best practices for when I should use this new feature? How does CLR Assembly hosting fit in to the big picture alongside TSQL? It turns out it's a case of with rather than instead of. Read Nick's article for more.

Paschal has photos from the event; but as the token Canadian here, I hasten to note that he’s missed a shot of the most excellent thing that happened Monday night: it snowed! In Dublin! That big, puffy kind of snow that makes you feel all bubbly inside, especially if you’re going skiing that afternoon. But this time, instead of gracing the Wicklow hilltops, it was leaving its lovely dusting along Dublin’s new tram line, the Luas, as the train sat (confused?) at St Stephen’s Green.

I so wanted to share the moment with you, that while riding the Luas today I risked life and limb to draw an artist’s rendition of the moment on my tablet PC. Umm… I think the results show once again that it was my sister, not me, whogot all the artistic talent.

Oh, and about the article title: You can't host snow in SQL Server 2005. Or at least, it's not a best practice...