Data Mining Introduction

Daniel Calbimonte from SQLServerCentral.com

Many people that work for years with SQL Server never use the Data Mining. This article has the objective to introduce them to this magic and exciting new world. More »

Day 3 of The OLAP Sprint

Simon D from SQLServerCentral.com

Day 3 was a pre-con on Business Intelligence. More »

SQL Server 2012 Build List

Steve Jones from SQLServerCentral.com

A list of the builds of SQL Server 2012 through CU#4. More »

Viewing VMware Counters in PerfMon for SQL Server

Additional Articles from MSSQLTips.com

I want to ensure that my SQL Server on a VMware Guest OS is getting the resources it should. This would go a long way towards helping isolate the performance problems we're experiencing. However, our system administrators won't give us access to VirtualCenter or any of the tools they use. Is there anything I can do? Check out this tip to learn more. More »

From the SQLServerCentral Blogs - Looping through multiple servers in SSIS part 2

Kenneth Fisher from SQLServerCentral.com

Last week I posted a quick example of looping through multiple servers using SSIS and being in a bit of... More »

An old phrase used in business is that knowledge is power. When you understand more about a particular situation, you can develop solutions and better understand which ones would both suit your environment better and solve any issues faster.

As someone that has worked in a variety of production environments managing all different types of platforms, I have found it extremely career-enhancing to have knowledge about the entire environment. Knowing what is happening at any point in time has allowed me to answer pointed questions about the applications. With comprehensive monitoring set up in database servers, I have often found myself in a position to proactively prevent issues, or make preparations for a quick response when I do find problems.

Over the years I developed a variety of techniques to monitor my own servers, often using third party solutions, enhanced with my own queries. I have learned that each system has its own idiosyncrasies, which often require custom queries to keep an eye on the pulse of the system. I've also learned that a regular exception report is the most valuable tool for me as a DBA. I assume most of my applications and scheduled tasks are working well; I just want a list of those things that have broken, or are not performing as expected sent to me every day, using the data from my various monitoring tools.

I have found that tracking metrics and analyzing the data is a valuable tool in my DBA tool belt. I would go so far as to say that monitoring the systems that you work with is not only a best practice, it's essential if you want to be an exceptional DBA. 

Steve Jones from SQLServerCentral.com

» Join the debate, and respond to today's editorial on the forums

The Voice of the DBA Podcasts

We publish three versions of the podcast each day for you to enjoy.

• Watch the Windows Media Podcast - 19.2MB WMV
• Watch the iPod Video Podcast - 17.9MB MP4
• Listen to the MP3 Audio Podcast - 3.6MB MP3

The podcast feeds are available at sqlservercentral.mevio.com. Comments are definitely appreciated and wanted, and you can get feeds from there. Overall RSS Feed: or now on iTunes!

Today's podcast features music by Everyday Jones. No relation, but I stumbled on to them and really like the music. Support this great duo at www.everydayjones.com.

You can also follow Steve Jones on Twitter:

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Today's Question:

I have the following table

CREATE TABLE #Users1
( UserId INT IDENTITY
, UserName VARCHAR(8)
, Sales Decimal(6,2))

Which contains the following data:

UserId UserName Sales

1      Joe      100.00

2      Baker    700.00

3      Charlie  400.00

4      Able     800.00

5      XRay     1000.00

6      Easy     50.00

I then execute the following T-SQL statement

SELECT 
  UserId
, UserName
, LEAD (Sales,1,( SELECT MIN(Sales)
                    FROM #Users1 )) 
      OVER (ORDER BY Sales) salesgoal 
 FROM #Users1 
 ORDER BY Sales 

SELECT 2  Answers

By bitbucket

Think you know the answer? Click here, and find out if you are right.

This question is worth 2 points in this category: LEAD. We keep track of your score to give you bragging rights against your peers.

We'd love to give you credit for your own question and answer. To submit a QOD, simply log in to Contribution Center.

SQL Server Execution Plans

SQL Server Execution Plans shows you what's going on behind the scenes in SQL Server. They can provide you with a wealth of information on how your queries are being executed by SQL Server, including: Which indexes are being used, and where no indexes are being used at all. How the data is being retrieved, and joined, from the tables defined in your query. How aggregations in GROUP BY queries are put together. Grab your copy today from Amazon!

Declare @a varchar(100)

select @a = null

select @a = isnull(coalesce(@a,coalesce(NULL,NULL)),'Pass')+'Fail'

select @a
 

What is returned?

By SKR V

Answer: Error

Explanation: The coalesce expects atleast one typed NULL in order to execute and hence the error.

Ref: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms190349.aspx..

» Discuss this question and answer on the forums

SQL Server 2012 Integration Services Design Patterns

SQL Server 2012 Integration Services Design Patterns is a book of recipes for SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS). Design patterns in the book show how to solve common problems encountered when developing data integration solutions. Because you do not have to build the code from scratch each time, using design patterns improves your efficiency as an SSIS developer. In SSIS Design Patterns, we take you through several of these snippets in detail, providing the technical details of the resolution.

Get your copy from Amazon today

Script to construct a restore/recovery script

Paul Brewer from SQLServerCentral.com

Constructs a restore script for all databases on the server from backup history. More »

Here's a few of the new posts today on the forums. To see more, visit the forums.

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