Creating SQL Server databases is easier than the internet may lead us to believe.  Read more...

The majority of Azure SQL Database related features reach their General Availability (GA) stage relatively quickly. There are however, some exceptions. The most prominent example in this category is likely Azure SQL Data Sync, which has remained in Preview since its introduction 7 years ago. Fortunately, there are signs that this service might be finally reaching production-ready state. In thius article, Martin Policht will introduce its main characteristics.  Read more...

There are any number of ways to help your career move forward. Steve Jones talks about one way you might not have thought about today.  Read more...

This article is just a short follow up of previous article on filegroup restoring that describes one issue with join elimination optimization.  Read more...

It is possible to do a great deal with R within SQL Server, but it is best to start by doing analysis in R on numeric data from SQL Server and returning the results to SQL Server. There is great value to be gained even with this basic foundation. Robert Sheldon is on hand to give you a kick start with the first in his series on beginning with R in SQL Server.  Read more...

Things always go wrong, but how do you handle the situation?  Read more...

In this new level of the stairway, we examine the storage knowledge you need for an AlwaysOn configuration.  Read more...

When you can’t get to your data because another application has it locked, a thorough knowledge of SQL Server concurrency will give you the confidence to decide what to do.  Read more...

This paper shares the approach used to understand and determine: 1) Using ‘Hekaton’ in SQL Server 2014 against RPM, including performance analysis. 2) Understand the specifics involved while migrating to Hekaton.   Read more...

Erik Darling wonders why SQL Server doesn't have more granular parallelism options.  Read more...

What's your approach to work commitments ?   Read more...

Do you hate when someone wakes you up in the middle of the night and tells you that some query is slower and you need to investigate it? With SQL Server 2017 you might easily do this, or even let SQL Server do this job for you.  Read more...

In order to be able to deliver database changes more quickly, there are several tasks that must be automated. It can be a daunting job to ensure that the whole team has the latest database build when there is a proliferation of copies, and the database is big. Phil illustrates a solution by taking a set of Redgate tools to show how they can be used together, via PowerShell, to build a database from object-level source, stock it with data, document it, and then provision any number of test and development servers with the database build, taking care to save any DDL changes to the existing copies of the database.  Read more...

It’s fairly widely known that just because you delete data from a database, it doesn’t mean it’s gone from the data file itself, but the question is, how should you go about removing it?  Read more...

Using a list to keep track of what you should work on is only as good as the plan or goal behind it.  Read more...

Example of Using Super Keys to Enforce Database Constraints, instead of procedural code  Read more...

Serget Gigoyan is back with another set of 5 common SSMS tips.  Read more...

Phil Factor's a 'tethered goat' database taught in the value of database intrusion detection and of "defense in depth".  Read more...

Different people respond to different types of learning techniques. Maybe a puzzle is the way that you learn.  Read more...

This example demonstrates how to perform a pivot using dynamic headers based on the row values of a table. The article also shows how to pass a temp table variable to a Dynamic SQL call.  Read more...