Continuing his examination of the evolving DAX “Function / Iterator Pairs,” Business Intelligence Architect, Analysis Services Maestro, Microsoft Data Platform MVP and author Bill Pearson introduces the DAX Concatenate() and ConcatenateX() functions, discussing the syntax, uses and operation of each. He then provides hands-on exposure to Concatenate() and ConcatenateX(), in joining two text strings into a single text string, and in returning the concatenation of an expression evaluated for each row in a table, respectively.  Read more...

When a SQL Server database is operating smoothly and performing well, there is no need to be particularly aware of the transaction log, beyond ensuring that every database has an appropriate backup regime and restore plan in place. When things go wrong, however, a DBA's reputation depends on a deeper understanding of the transaction log, both what it does, and how it works.  Read more...

A free day of training on Monday, October 24 in Seattle this year. Join MCMs, MVPs, and Friends of Redgate for a free day of training.  Read more...

Is your company a tech company? Steve Jones looks at the world from the perspective of software development and how that impacts business.   Read more...

This article shows different options to use the rounding functions in SQL Server.  Read more...

The SQL Server Error Log is quite large and it's not always easy to view the contents with the Log File Viewer. Greg Robidoux presents an easy way to search and find errors using T-SQL.  Read more...

Learn how to use Redgate’s DLM solution to improve your database change management process in this free webinar on September 20th. Microsoft Data Platform MVPs, Steve Jones and Grant Fritchey, will demonstrate how Redgate’s tools plug into Visual Studio Online so that you can build, test and deploy your database alongside your application code. Register now.  Read more...

This second part to a previous article on Calendar table generation shows how to create a holiday table containing both fixed-date and variable-date holidays.  Read more...

Today Steve Jones discusses the mythical 10x programmer from the context of databases.  Read more...

In-memory OLTP was introduced in SQL Server 2014, but greatly improved in SQL Server 2016. If you have a heavily-used transaction-processing that is processing a lot of data, it is definitely worth considering the new 'In-Memory' features of SQL Server 2016. Grant Fritchey explains why.  Read more...

This week Steve Jones notes that backups aren't the most important thing for your data. Restores are.  Read more...

Foreign Keys are one of the fundamental characteristics of relational databases and enforce the referential integrity. Is it a good idea to index a FK relationship? When can it help?  Read more...

This week Steve Jones wonders what you think of xp_cmdshell.  Read more...

To demonstrate that dynamic modules in PowerShell can be used to easily create objects with methods and properties, Phil Factor implements an expression analyser written in PowerShell, using a variation of Dijstra's Shunting Algorithm.  Read more...

General introduction to R Services in SQL Server 2016 and how R server works with external stored procedure.  Read more...

Data Science is a hot area and one to which quite a few people would like to move. Steve Jones has some thoughts on trying to get certified in this area.  Read more...

Row Level Security is one of many new features in SQL Server 2016. It provides a much easier, consistent, and maintainable solution for row-based security rules. In this blog post, Data Platform MVP Steve Jones introduces this new feature, and walks through how Redgate SQL Compare can safely and reliably handle RLS changes.   Read more...

Learn how to use Redgate’s DLM solution to improve your database change management process in this free webinar on September 20th. Microsoft Data Platform MVPs, Steve Jones and Grant Fritchey, will demonstrate how Redgate’s tools plug into Visual Studio Online so that you can build, test and deploy your database alongside your application code. Register now.  Read more...

U-SQL provides a number of ways to join data sources together. This articles introduces the joins available and how you can use them.  Read more...

Last week Steve Jones participated in the Down Tools Week at Redgate Software.  Read more...