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This article from Tony Davis describes how to the use the Redgate SQL Compare and SQL Data Compare GUIs to get the current version of a database schema, and its static data, into version control, and then automate database deployments from the version control system using SQL Compare's command line and PowerShell.  Read more...

Read a short comparison of datetime and datetime2 types. Learn about their structure, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of each.  Read more...

Monica Rathburn talks about a few of the more common elements she always checks for when troubleshooting I/O problems.  Read more...

In this article, I will provide a set of examples to show case the use of OUTPUT clause for INSERT and DELETE statements.  Read more...

A four-day course aimed at BI developers who want to use Business Intelligence Markup Language (BIML) to generate SQL Server Integration Services packages.  Read more...

Azure SQL Data Warehouse is a new enterprise-class, elastic petabyte-scale, data warehouse service. Join Arshad Ali as he discusses round-robin and distributed tables, and how to create them. He also discusses how partitioning works in SQL Data Warehouse and looks at the impact of choosing the right distribution key. As a bonus Arshad shows you how to leverage PolyBase to quickly and easily import or export data from SQL Data Warehouse.  Read more...

The previous levels of this stairway describe details, features, and limitations of columnstore indexes in SQL Server. But they do not answer what should be the first question for every database professional: should columnstore indexes be used in my databases; on what tables should they be used; and should they be clustered or nonclustered columnstore indexes?  Read more...

In the last update from Redgate Foundry three weeks ago, they announced their intention to build a version of SQL Data Mask that would mask on-premise SQL Server databases, as well as Azure SQL Databases. They're pleased to say this version of the prototype is now available - here are the details.  Read more...

Three SQL Server MVPs (Jonathan Kehayias, Ted Krueger and Gail Shaw) provide fascinating insight into the most common SQL Server problems, why they occur, and how they can be diagnosed using tools such as Performance Monitor, Dynamic Management Views and server-side tracing. The focus is on practical solutions for removing root causes of these problems, rather than "papering over the cracks".  Read more...

See a simple script to generate an XML file in SSIS.  Read more...

This is a good T-SQL Tuesday topic from James Anderson: shipping database changes. It’s especially poignant for me since I...  Read more...

My fantastic friend Andre Kamman b | t  and I presented at PSConfEu last week and whilst we were there we were...  Read more...