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Featured Contents

SQL Server 2025 Backup Compression Algorithm

Johan Bijnens from SQLServerCentral

Learn about the new ZSTD compression algorithm in SQL Server 2025.

Making AI Talk to Your Database: AI-Powered Database Queries Made Simple

Additional Articles from SimpleTalk

Beneath the surface though, AI is just a tool that learns certain patterns and draws conclusions from information on the Web to answer questions, make decisions, or craft a code sample or two. Those that have used AI in the past will know that just as it’s capable of providing valuable information, AI tools can also generate inaccurate responses, and that’s why it’s important to use it wisely.

From the SQL Server Central Blogs - T-SQL Tuesday #193 - Notes to Self

alevyinroc from FLX SQL

T-SQL Tuesday is a monthly blog party hosted by a different community member each month. This month, Mike Walsh
(blog) asks us:

Write two short notes to yourself. One to the...

From the SQL Server Central Blogs - Flyway Tips: Automation Assistance in Flyway Desktop

Steve Jones - SSC Editor from The Voice of the DBA

I was chatting with the product managers at Flyway and one asked me whether I’d seen the new tab for Automation in Flyway Desktop. I hadn’t and decided to...

The Definitive Guide to DAX: Business Intelligence for Microsoft Power BI, SQL Server Analysis Services, and Excel

Site Owners from SQLServerCentral

Now expanded and updated with modern best practices, this is the most complete guide to Microsoft’s DAX language for business intelligence, data modeling, and analytics. Expert Microsoft BI consultants Marco Russo and Alberto Ferrari help you master everything from table functions through advanced code and model optimization.

Question of the Day

Today's question (by Steve Jones - SSC Editor):
	The Large Encoded Value
I want to use the new BASE64_ENCODE() function in SQL Server 2025, but return a string that isn't large type. What is the longest varbinary string I can pass in and still get a varchar(8000) returned?
Think you know the answer? Click here, and find out if you are right.

Yesterday's Question of the Day (by Steve Jones - SSC Editor)

UNISTR Escape

In SQL Server 2025, I run this command:

SELECT UNISTR('*3041*308A*304C\3068 and good night', '*') as "A Classic";

What is returned? (assume the database has an appropriate collation)

Answer: The image from C: above

Explanation: This works and the image from C above. The optional escape character parameter is sent, so only those strings escaped with this character are used to find Unicode codepoint values. The other string, even with the default escape character, is treated as part of the literal string. Ref: UNISTR - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/t-sql/functions/unistr-transact-sql?view=sql-server-ver17

Discuss this question and answer on the forums

Database Pros Who Need Your Help

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

SQL Server 2019 - Administration

Intermittent Service Freezes and "State 23" Authentication Failure - Environment: SQL Server: 2019 Enterprise (15.0.4430.1) OS: Windows Server 2022 Standard (Build 20348) Virtualization: QEMU/KVM (Standard PC Q35 + ICH9) Security: Bitdefender GravityZone Authentication: Active Directory Domain Account The Problem: I am experiencing a recurring issue where SQL Server intermittently stops responding to queries. The service remains in a "Running" state, but all new and […]

i noticed the sqlhealth extende event is on by default , so can i reduce - hi, i noticed the sqlhealth extended event is on by default , and it logs many thing, Q1) can i reduce few thing so that file size and recording that is wirting from buffer to file can be reduced, thus i will save some resources. q2) and can i add few events which are required […]

SQL Server 2019 - Development

data type gets lost in data flow - Hi, in a simple oledb source->derived column->oledb destination data flow, 2 of my date columns that are converted to varchar, format 101, in the source view, ultimately seem to end up as unicode in the oledb destination. And that seems to bring down the pkg. everywhere else they are dt_str length of 30 . […]

SQL Azure - Administration

New-AzSqlInstanceServerTrustCertificate - Failed and no clues - Using New-AzSqlInstanceServerTrustCertificate to import a certificate and get the message New-AzSqlInstanceServerTrustCertificate: Long running operation failed with status 'Failed'. Additional Info:'An unexpected error occured while processing the request. Tracking ID: 'd21c42cd-515c-40b4-b8b6-60b851c66a39' I've confirmed that the parameters are correct and most articles I've looked at suggest just waiting and trying again. Needless to say, that hasn't worked. […]

Editorials

The Challenge of AI - Comments posted to this topic are about the item The Challenge of AI, which is is not currently available on the site.

The AI Bubble and the Weak Foundation Beam - Comments posted to this topic are about the item The AI Bubble and the Weak Foundation Beam

Refactoring SQL Code - Comments posted to this topic are about the item Refactoring SQL Code, which is is not currently available on the site.

Article Discussions by Author

Stairway to Azure SQL Hyperscale Level 6: Backup and Restore Internals - Comments posted to this topic are about the item Stairway to Azure SQL Hyperscale Level 6: Backup and Restore Internals

Deprecated Feature Tracking - Comments posted to this topic are about the item Deprecated Feature Tracking

Think LSNs Are Unique? Think Again - Preventing Data Loss in CDC ETL - Comments posted to this topic are about the item Think LSNs Are Unique? Think Again - Preventing Data Loss in CDC ETL

A Big PK - Comments posted to this topic are about the item A Big PK

The Read Committed Snapshot Isolation behaviour - Comments posted to this topic are about the item The Read Committed Snapshot Isolation behaviour

Working with JSON/JSONB Data in PostgreSQL using Python - Comments posted to this topic are about the item Working with JSON/JSONB Data in PostgreSQL using Python

SQL Server 2022 - Administration

SQL Server audit with windows ad group - I am trying to create a filter on a SQL Server audit to capture actions of the members of a Windows AD group. The audit filter allows you to include a filter such as where server_principal_name = 'domain\user_name' Using this filter I included a Windows AD group name, but the audit captures nothing. The audit […]

Deadlock graph anomaly - I've come across what appears to be a strange deadlock anomaly. As seen in the attached image/XML, a typical deadlock is shown (bottom), but then a completely isolated process graph is also shown (top). The top section has appeared in multiple deadlocks on different unrelated databases/app processes. It doesn't appear to be involved in the […]

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