Cloud Concerns
Security is a concern in the cloud, but should it be your number one concern? Steve Jones notes that business continuity might be a bigger issue.
Enforcing Unique Customer Emails When Duplicates Already Exist
How do you keep some duplicate records by not others? An interesting business rule enforced by cleanup and a filtered index.
How to secure temporary objects, metadata visibility, and audit assurance in SQL Server
This article, part of Fabiano Amorim’s complete guide to SQL Server security, explains and demonstrates where these three features commonly go wrong. Learn the the exact signs and queries to check for exposure – and the practical fixes that turn a theoretical risk into a closed gap.
Table Partitioning in SQL Server: A Practical Guide to Managing Very Large Tables (VLDBs)
Introduction When we first start working with SQL Server, most tables are small enough and we do not think much about their size. But over time, a table can collect millions or even billions of rows. For example, an online shopping application may store every order ever placed, a banking system may retain years of […]
SQL DROP COLUMN Without Breaking Code
Adding a column is relatively easy, since the applications can just ignore it in most cases. But taking a column away can be a little bit more work, as you may have to trick the applications into believing the column is still there. I often see systems where deprecated columns have stayed around “forever” — because people are too afraid to remove them, or because they don’t have the access or capability to modify the source code of the affected applications.
My PASS Summit West 2026
In a few days I’ll be heading up I-5 to Seattle for PASS Summit West, November 9–11, and I’m excited for the week ahead! Part of that is for the event itself. PASS Summit West has a new home this year at the Hyatt Regency Seattle, with sessions, meals, the exhibit hall and evening events […]
Packing and Decoding Device Status Codes with LEFT_SHIFT() and RIGHT_SHIFT() in SQL Server
Some systems store several small status values through a single packed integer. For example, a device integration may require tracking operating mode, alert level, and zone information as one status code rather than separate values in different columns. That creates a practical reporting problem. The packed value may be convenient for an integration format, but […]
SQL Server 2016 end of support: how to choose your upgrade path
SQL Server 2016 reached the end of extended support in July 2026, which means it no longer receives regular security updates unless you pay for Extended Security Updates (ESUs).
Blogs
Using AI to Build Semantic Models, Ontologies, and Fabric Data Agents
By James Serra
(This is the third post in a three-part series on how AI is changing...
SSMS Is Getting Smarter—and This Isn’t Just About Writing SQL
Continuing with my takeaways from SQLCon and FabCon Europe in Barcelona, let’s talk about...
Yippee-Kai-Yay 2027 Summit in Denver
By Steve Jones
Next year the PASS Data Community Summit is in DENVER! and London, but Denver...
Forums
Pay for Performance
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Pay for Performance, which is...
Life hack that has worked well for me
I wrote about this several years ago but will contribute again a life hack...
Trying to make this faster using not exists
Hi I have this query that is slow during the 'not in' part of...
Question of the Day
Switching Schemas I
I run this query:
SELECT s.name AS schemaname , o.name AS objectname FROM sys.objects o INNER JOIN sys.schemas s ON s.schema_id = o.schema_id WHERE o.name = 'Beer'I get one row back for an object named dbo.beer. There is an ETL schema and both of these are nonpartitioned tables. I run this code:
ALTER TABLE dbo.beer switch TO etl.beerWhat happens? See possible answers