Here is the script that I used in my Dr. DMV presentation this afternoon at PASS. It is a set...  Read more...

It is pretty important to make sure you set the Max Server memory setting for SQL Server 2005/2008 to something...  Read more...

Welcome back to our last class this term on security in SQL Server here at SQL University. According to the syllabus,...  Read more...

In the first installment of this discussion, I talked about the challenges facing database professionals and others with respect to...  Read more...

In my a post on Monday, I talked about who I want to meet while at the PASS Summit.  Today...  Read more...

I’m flying out Sunday via Alaska Air, taking the direct flight from Orlando to Seattle, arriving at 11:40 am. If...  Read more...

When developing Reporting Services reports that use Analysis Services as a data source you may find that it is difficult...  Read more...

Eric Wisdahl posted some questions on my last update, and I thought I’d reply here to make my answers more...  Read more...

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself, any direction you choose. Dr. Seuss   Read more...

No, I’m not talking about a Dickens novel. I’m talking about the number of characters in a string. I had a painful time recently because of the word “characters.”   Read more...

Our home desktop was several years old and due for replacement. I still have my Dell laptop, and it's still more than...  Read more...

Lots of interesting news and announcements coming out of the SharePoint 2009 Conference that started today in Las Vegas. Microsoft’s...  Read more...

I hate to start a blog war, but maybe there's one going on. The recent PASS 2009 election concluded a...  Read more...

Last week, I had lunch with an old friend who is, by his own definition, technologically ignorant. While we caught up, he asked me to explain in terms he could understand what I do for a living. I went through one of my spiels (the one usually..  Read more...

Someone was asking about using multiple data files recently to try and increase performance. I had answered that unless you...  Read more...

“Joe Test” “Joe Test2? “Joe Test3? “Arrgh! There has got to be a better way to create some test data!” Ever had that conversation...  Read more...

When deciding what to learn, there's a binary decision. Will you focus on a strength or a weakness? I think many people focus mostly on their strengths because they have a goal of really standing out in something. They perhaps want to avoid being..  Read more...

Not very often I run across something with zero matches in a search engine, but had it happen recently. I had set up a simple demo of a sparse column set and happened to look at the execution plan, was interested to see that the Compute Scalar was backed by ConvertSVtoXML. This was on a select from a table with one row, and then, being a little more curious, updated it with an xml fragment I saw a call to ConvertXMLtoResv. I’d venture that those serve to convert back/forth from XML storage.  Read more...

Anyone who knows me, or has worked with me, knows that I am a proponent of using stored procedures for...  Read more...

Most of you are aware that the Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine (MSDE) limits database size to 2 gigabytes. ...  Read more...

 I/O I/O - It's why my server's slow..... Often I've been curious about ways to measure the performance of SQL Server, and...  Read more...

/* A couple of years ago, when I wrote the Simple-Talk Prettifier that is really no more than a stored procedure...  Read more...

Going through one’s father’s belongings after his death is always a poignant, bitter-sweet experience. I was going through his most precious books a while back; there were books that were written by him, books by friends and relatives, books about friends...  Read more...