Helpful Management Studio Settings and Features
Learn a few tips and tricks to make your work with SSMS much more efficient and helpful.
2025-05-19
2,038 reads
Articles
Securing the DevOps Pipeline Part 2: Hardening Kubernetes and Cloud Security
In Part 2, we shift our focus to securing containerized deployments and cloud infrastructure. We will cover Kubernetes security hardening, real-time monitoring, infrastructure as code (IaC) security, and shifting security left to catch misconfigurations early. These strategies will help your team secure workloads in production and respond to potential threats before they lead to a security breach.
2025-05-19
How to Safely Remove a SQL Server Data File Without Downtime
Learn how to safely remove a SQL Server .ndf data file without any downtime using DBCC SHRINKFILE (EMPTYFILE). This hands-on tutorial walks through real-world Azure-based setup, data redistribution, and storage cleanup — ideal for DBAs managing enterprise SQL Server environments.
2025-05-16
1,350 reads
SQL ASCII Function Use and Examples
The ASCII function is used to return the ASCII value for the first character in a string.
2025-05-16
Your SQL Server Needs Spring Cleaning, Too.
First things first: pick up that filthy keyboard, take it over to the trash can, turn it upside down, and give it a good, vigorous shake.
2025-05-14
Data Analyst AI tool
See how ChatGPT can be used to analyze a dataset, produce charts, and train a model.
2025-05-12
212 reads
Evaluating the Randomness of SQL Server Random Number Functions
Microsoft provides T-SQL developers with three functions (rand, newid, and crypt_gen_random) for generating random numbers. Each of these functions is effective at returning random values, but feature sets associated with each function make them best suited to different use cases. This tip’s Solution section presents an overview of common use cases for random numbers in SQL Server along with references to learn more about random numbers in SQL Server.
2025-05-12
Date and Time Calculations Made Easy with EOMONTH, DATEDIFF, and DATEADD
Learn how to work with dates and calculate particular dates or elapsed time periods with some of the functions available in SQL Server.
2025-05-09
2,158 reads
Exploring the SQL Server CHOOSE Function
I preface a lot of what I write with whether or not it is for a “practical” use. One of the Simple Talk authors used this function in a forthcoming article. and I realized I hadn’t heard of it before (or I forgot about it… which is not completely unlikely.) The practical use was to generate some data and have at least a little variety to the values.
2025-05-09
SQL Server Cursor Example
I know SQL cursors exist, but I am not sure how or why to use them. Can you provide a SQL cursor example? Can you give any guidance on when to use a SQL Server cursor?
2025-05-07
Blogs
Monday Monitor Tips: Beyond SQL Server
By Steve Jones
Redgate Monitor works with more than SQL Server. Some big changes were announced recently,...
Query multiple Azure SQL Databases
I was sick of changing context in Azure Data Studio while cleaning up things...
KDA: Echoes of Deception - Case 3
By Zikato
The crime spree in Digitown is not ending. This time 20 cars have been...
Forums
Connect tabular model to excel via Power BI semantic model
I have a tabular cube, with myself included in one of the roles. I...
New lightweight pure‑T‑SQL unit‑testing framework (T‑TEST) — feedback welcome
Hi all, I’ve just open‑sourced T‑TEST, a tiny alternative to tSQLt that lives...
Helpful Management Studio Settings and Features
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Helpful Management Studio Settings and...
Question of the Day
The Minimal Linked Server
What is the minimal number of parameters to add a linked server with sp_addlinkedserver?
See possible answers