Originally one of the articles in the first DBA Team series, Grant wonders what Raymond Chandler or Dashiell Hammett would have done if asked to write technical articles for Simple-Talk. He came up with the DBA detective, hard-boiled Joe Dee Beay.  Read more...

This Friday Steve Jones wants to know about the lifetime of your instances. Do you have some idea on how long you'll run a particular version of a platform?  Read more...

SQL Saturday will come to Atlanta on May 3, 2014. This is a free, full-day event of SQL Server training and networking. SQL Saturday #285 also has 3 (paid for) pre-con sessions available run by Kalen Delaney, Teo Lachev, and Denny Cherry. Make sure to register for SQL Saturday while spaces are available.   Read more...

Are data breaches a question of if they will happen to you or when will they happen to you?  Read more...

This article demonstrates how to selectively channel records from a flat-file data source to separate destination tables in an SSIS package using a combination of multicast, data-conversion and conditional-split data flow transformation elements within a data flow task.  Read more...

We are looking for new content here for the site, based on your experiences in the real world. Submit something and get yourself published.  Read more...

PowerShell provides a command-line shell and scripting language (built in the .NET Framework) especially designed for administrative task automation and configuration management. Learn how to manage Windows services related to SQL Server, either on a local machine or remote machine, using PowerShell cmdlets.  Read more...

Today Steve Jones notes that Big Data isn't a panacea. It's not going to just solve all problems.  Read more...

There are times where you need to write a single T-SQL statement that is able to return different T-SQL expressions based on the evaluation of another expression. When you need this kind of functionality you can use the CASE expression or IIF function to meet this requirement. In this Stairway level Gregory Larsen reviews the CASE and IIF syntax and showing you examples of how the CASE expression and IIF function.  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...

If you have been in the information technology industry long enough, you have probably heard the expression "this adds overhead" when discussing any extra processing added on to what is considered normal processing. Dallas Snider answers the question of additional overhead caused by encryption.  Read more...

The Connect system from Microsoft doesn't work that well, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't continue to press Microsoft for change.  Read more...

Sometimes we need to break down a complex problem into a multiple stage solution to achieve optimal performance  Read more...

The first thing you need to understand about SQL Server is indexes, but somehow many of the basic questions don't often get asked or answered much on forums. Rob Sheldon answers some of these questions about SQL Server Indexes and indexing.  Read more...

SQL Saturday is coming to Huntington Beach, CA on April 26 2014. This is a free day of training and networking for SQL Server Professionals - there are also 2 paid-for precons on April 25 presented by Jason Horner and Bradley Bell. Register for SQL Saturday Orange County while space is available.  Read more...

If you've ever wondered if you can do better than an INDEX SCAN when you do a LIKE "%string%" search, read on...  Read more...

Load tests give the database administrator quite a lot of valuable information and may make the difference between poor and acceptable application performance. But are there any gotchas or traps associated with big data?  Read more...

Does your organization have policies around data security? Perhaps they should, or perhaps you should ask for some to be created and education available for users.  Read more...

Disk performance can make a difference to your SQL Server instance. Steve Jones discusses a few things this week.  Read more...

The way that various departments might view a team of technology employees can affect how we interact. Andy Warren remembers a few situations and notes it's always more fun to join a team with a good reputation.  Read more...