Indexes are critical to good performance. However many people don't understand how indexes well. MVP Gail Shaw provides us with an introductory article on the basics of indexing.  Read more...

After a very popular first article on tools for the DBA, David Bird is back with a list of some utilities you might find very handy for working with SQL Server.  Read more...

The ROW_NUMBER function has drastically changed the way we can write a number of queries in T-SQL. New author Francis Rodrigues brings us a few places where this function can improve the efficiency of your code.  Read more...

Use sysindexes\DMVs insead of select count(*) to retreive table row counts  Read more...

In the second part of her series on indexing, MVP Gail Shaw examines clustered indexes. Learn what this index is, how it differs from a heap, and how it can help your queries.  Read more...

Replacing multiple spaces with a single space is an old problem that people use loops, functions, and/or Tally tables for. Here's a set based method for replacing multiple spaces from MVP Jeff Moden.  Read more...

Find the country, region and city of a user from an IP address using SQL Server. Oscar Garcia provides some code and resources if you want to dig into your analytics on your own.  Read more...

If you need to connect to a SQL server and don't have the 'sa' password plus the builtin\administrators account has been removed then Rudy Panigas shows us what you need to know.   Read more...

This article will provide some useful information to write a SP. I have emphasized on performance.  Read more...

An interesting use of T-SQL to run a stored procedure as part of a SELECT statement to get a result set to be used and combined with other tables. From Eli Leiba, learn how you can build a stored procedure into your queries.  Read more...

Some tips on what to do when you inherit a database that you've never worked on before   Read more...

This articles brings a comparison of temporary tables with table variables from SQL Server author, Wayne Sheffield. In includes an in-depth look at the differences between them.  Read more...

How the JOIN operator works, the different types of JOINs and relevant information about joining tables.  Read more...

Implementing searching in your database is always a challenge and MVP Michael Coles brings us a method of building a Google-like search for SQL Server.  Read more...

This article identifies which indexes are used when T-SQL code runs, and proposes ways of improving these targeted indexes, leading to better performing code.  Read more...

An "old" subject is revisted where "newbies" can learn the methods and veteran users can get more performance out of the code.  Read more...

Is there a way to not allow users to use SELECT * in their queries? New author AJ Raghuram has an interesting solution that can prevent this in code.  Read more...

Revisiting his very popular article on the running total and ordinal rank problems, MVP Jeff Moden brings us a detailed analysis of how you might want to implement a solution in T-SQL.  Read more...

Part 3 of a great series on the basics of indexes. This time MVP Gail Shaw examines the non-clustered index. Learn the structure, definition, and how to examine the use of these indexes in your queries.  Read more...

Indexing is important for improving performance, but do you know that a lack of indexes might actually cause things to stop working? Alok Dwivedi brings us a very interesting scenario where the lack of an index causes a problem with concurrency.  Read more...