SQL Server developers and database administrators have one last chance for a full day of free training and networking at SQL in the City 2012.  Read more...

You need to provide the necessary keywords and define the XQuery and value expressions in your XML DML expression in order to use the modify() method to update element and attribute values in either typed or untyped XML instances in an XML column. Robert Sheldon explains how.  Read more...

PowerShell is worth using when it is the quickest way to providing a solution. For the DBA, it is much more than getting information from SQL Server instances via PowerShell; it can also be run from SQL Server as part of a system that helps with administrative and monitoring tasks.  Read more...

Designing a table can be a little complicated if you don’t have the correct knowledge of data types, relationships, and even column properties. In this tip, Brady Upton goes over the column properties and provides examples.   Read more...

Learn how to create a comma separated list of values in this short SQL Spackle article by Wayne Sheffield.  Read more...

Learn how you can process data files with SSIS as soon as they arrive using the Script Task.  Read more...

XML Indexes make a huge difference to the speed of XML queries, as Seth Delconte explains; and demonstrates by running queries against half a million XML employee records. The execution time of a query is reduced from two seconds to being too quick to measure, purely by creating the right type of secondary index for the query.  Read more...

Sometimes it is necessary to search for specific content inside documents stored in a SQL Server database. Is it possible to do this in SQL Server? Can I run T-SQL queries and find content inside Microsoft Word files? Yes, now with SQL Server 2012 you can do a semantic search.  Read more...

In this level you will see how to employ the Data Collector feature of SQL Server to automate management of SQL Traces among multiple servers.  Read more...

You can download a free eBook from SQLServerCentral and Red Gate software on the most important task a SQL Server DBA or developer needs to understand.  Read more...

Use SSRS to be create its own lightweight report version control system  Read more...

SQL Server Indexes need to be effective. It is wrong to have too few or too many. The ones you create must ensure that the workload reads the data quickly with a minimum of I/O. As well as a sound knowledge of the way that relational databases work, it helps to be familiar with the Dynamic Management Objects that are there to assist with your indexing strategy.  Read more...

Many companies now have a requirement to keep data for long periods of time. While this data does have to be available if requested, it usually does not need to be accessible by the application for any current transactions. Data that falls into this category are a good candidate for archival.  Read more...

This far, we have learned about installation and setup of the PowerShell environment. You should now have a foundation of SQL Server PowerShell. We now are ready to learn about Objects in SQL PowerShell.  Read more...