It is when you use R in SQL Server with one of the huge range of packages that comes with it that you can begin to appreciate the power of the system. With a package such as ggplot there are many 'knobs one can twiddle' in order to get spectacular and informative visualisations. Rob Sheldon continues his beginners series for R in SQL Server by showing how to refine the output to get it as you need it.
2017-10-25
3,267 reads
If you're attending the PASS Summit in 2017, there's a Freecon day on Tuesday you can attend.
2017-10-24 (first published: 2017-10-13)
1,380 reads
Most IT departments are moving toward ITIL-aligned practices. Gain a general understanding of the ITIL framework and how Database Administrators can take advantage of it.
2017-10-24 (first published: 2015-10-26)
10,838 reads
This article will demonstrate what is parameter sniffing and how can it can kill performance
2017-10-24
2,135 reads
One crucial aspect of all databases is the transaction log. The transaction log is used to write all transactions prior to committing the data to the data file. In some circumstances the transaction logs can get quite large and not knowing what is in the transaction log or how much space is being used can become a problem. So how to you determine how much of the transaction log is being used and what portions are being used?
2017-10-24
4,163 reads
Microsoft has added a ton of new features in SQL Server 2017, including expanded operating system support, Graph database capability, Python support, and more. Join Greg Larsen as he explores nine of these new features.
2017-10-23
5,498 reads
A tale in which is detailed how I used SWITCH PARTITION to efficiently load my data and save myself from the flaming jaws of death.
2017-10-20 (first published: 2015-11-02)
4,341 reads
Azure Data Lake stores petabytes of data and analyzes trillions of objects in one place with no constraints. Data Lake Store can store any type of data including massive data like high-resolution video, medical data, and data from a wide variety of industries. Data Lake Store scales throughput to support any size of analytic workload with low latency. Read on to learn more.
2017-10-20
3,483 reads
How does one get a truly random sample of data of a certain size from a SQL Server database table. Well, there are simple non-portable tricks one can use, such as the NewID() function, but then refining those can be tricky. Take the Rand() function for a start. Can it really provide you with a truly random number? Why doesn't the TABLESAMPLE clause give you a set number of rows? Joe Celko scratches his head a bit, explains some of the issues and invites some suggestions and tricks from readers.
2017-10-19
3,623 reads
There is already a template on the Azure marketplace for setting up an AlwaysOn Availability Group. In just a few easy steps you can get a working AlwaysOn Availability Group setup, configured and running - this post describes the steps to quickly set it up.
2017-10-18
3,292 reads
A while back I wrote a quick post on setting up key mappings in...
By Steve Jones
In 100 years a lot of what we take to be true now will...
At Saturday the 21st of February I’m presenting an introduction to dimensional modelling at...
Hello, I inherited a number of tables with like 20-30 column using nvarchar(256) in...
Hi, i'm running vs2022. I'm trying out a c# script that i'd like to...
I upgraded a SQL Server 2019 instance to SQL Server 2025. I wanted to test the fuzzy string search functions. I run this code:
SELECT JARO_WINKLER_DISTANCE('tim', 'tom')
I get this error message:Msg 195, Level 15, State 10, Line 1 'JARO_WINKLER_DISTANCE' is not a recognized built-in function name.What is wrong? See possible answers