The Tally Table has proven to be a simple and elegant method for avoiding many varieties of RBAR. Unfortunately, one of its more common uses, that of a CSV splitter, has a well-known and serious performance problem. MVP Jeff Moden shows us what that problem is and how to correct it. (UPDATED with additional info and attachments on 5/12/2011).  Read more...

The "index create memory" option in sp_configure advance server settings, controls the maximum amount of memory initially allocated for creating indexes. This tip deals with common issues around this setting.  Read more...

Here's a great method for managing ETL for data marts and small data warehouses with just T-SQL.  Read more...

When you are about to deploy a new version of a database by updating the current version, one of the essential pre-deployment checks is to make sure that the version in production is exactly what it should be. If changes have somehow slipped in, you'll need to understand them and deal with them before you can deploy.  Read more...

In this Stairway, Sebastian will be covering the details of SQL Server transactional and merge replication, from understanding the basic terminology and methodology of setting up replication, to describing how it works and how the basic replication processes can be monitored.   Read more...

Creating temp tables in SSIS seems like a straight-forward process using the Execute SQL Task, however there are a couple of properties that must be changed. In this tip, we’ll walk through creating a simple temp table in SSIS.  Read more...

Merry Christmas from SQLServerCentral. We spend much of our working life helping solve SQL Server-related performance problems, hands-on, during consulting, or on online forums. We've seen a few weird-and-wonderful issues but, mainly, it’s the same problems and misconceptions time-and-again. This is our attempt to describe, diagnose, and solve the most common problems with SQL Server 2005, 2008, and 2008 R2. And it's free.  Read more...

We exposed the SQLServerCentral cluster for monitoring with SQL Monitor. Just like other companies, we have constraints on resources, and we have more work that needs to be done. Help us configure SQLServerCentral’s database servers with your suggestions on what is the highest priority for a website database back end.  Read more...

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from SQLServerCentral  Read more...

A Christmas poem and a contest from Simple Talk.  Read more...

A table doesn't so much "have" a clustered index as a table "is" a clustered index.  Read more...

With the release of Windows Server 2012, SQL Server 2012, and the new generation of Sandy Bridge Xeon processors, your organization is likely to get many tangible benefits from upgrading your current database infrastructure with a complete platform refresh.  Read more...