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We show how to use RevolutionR to analyse & visualise purchasing behaviours in AdventureWorksDW2012.  Read more...

Database code analysis will reduce the number of 'code smells' that creep into your database builds. It will alert the team to mistakes or omissions, such as missing indexes, that are likely to cause performance problems in production. It will allow the Governance and Operations team visibility into production readiness of the code, warning them of security loopholes and vulnerabilities. William Brewer describes the two technical approaches to database code analysis, static and dynamic, and suggests some tools that can help you get started.  Read more...

Learn how you can use tSQLt to test your COALESCE queries.  Read more...

The transaction log backup is stored in SQL Server proprietary format, just like the transaction log itself. Even though the transaction log backup is in a special format, Microsoft has provided us with the fn_dump_dblog() function to read transaction log backups. This function is undocumented, so you should use care when using this function in a production environment.  Read more...

The first article in this Stairway Series makes the case for test-driven development.  Read more...

Dynamic Management Views (DMVs) are a significant and valuable addition to the DBA's troubleshooting armory, laying bare previously unavailable information regarding the under-the-covers activity of your database sessions and transactions.  Read more...

Cloud-based services and applications must still be monitored just like the on-premise ones. You still need most of your data center activities that ensure that your planning, budgeting, security and service-level obligations are met wherever the data and services are actually hosted. There is much to be said for an integrated approach to providing a unified view of entire application workloads on-premise. hybrid and cloud using the same tools wherever possible.  Read more...

SQL Clone permissions has been high on the wish-list for users and the new feature addresses it in an intuitive way that enables you to allocate and change permissions quickly and easily.  Read more...

Learn the basics of Database Master Keys and how you can use them in SQL Server.  Read more...

Having already shown how to corrupt a database, and then how nonclustered indexes can be corrupted independently, in this post Brent Ozar explains how you can detect corruption.  Read more...