New Azure SQL Database Standard Tier Sizes
Tim Radney of SQLskills talks about the various Standard tiers available in Azure SQL Database – what they get you, and how much they cost.
2017-12-22
3,997 reads
Articles
Different Ways to Find SQL Server Orphaned Users
SQL Server orphaned users are a common thorny issue in auditing. In this post, Jeffrey Yao provides a few different ways of identifying orphaned users covering various scenarios.
2017-12-21
3,707 reads
Still More SQL Server Features that Time Forgot
As the final entry in this series, Robert Sheldon leads you through a group of forgotten features that have been removed from recent versions of SQL Server. In some cases, the features were widely used and often loved, while others had lost their usefulness over the years or were replaced with something much better. In this article, he remembers Data Transformation Services (DTS), a handful of DBCC commands, a few utilities, Active Directory Helper Service, English Query, Web Assistant, SQL Mail, Native XML Web Services, Notification Services, SQL Distributed Management Objects, Surface Area Configuration Tool, and the Pubs and Northwind databases.
2017-12-20
3,745 reads
Azure DWH part 21: Using Excel in ASDWH
This time we will show how to access to Azure SQL Data Warehouse using Excel.
2017-12-19
627 reads
Understanding Migration from SQL Server to SQL Server 2017 using Data Migration Assistant
You can use the Data Migration Assistant (DMA) tool to migrate your SQL Server instance to an on-premise SQL Server 2017 or to Azure SQL Database. DMA analyzes data migration issues and provides recommendations to resolve them. Read on learn about the features of DMA and how DMA eases your SQL Server instance migration as well as reduces overall risks, allowing you to complete the migration successfully.
2017-12-19
3,471 reads
Improve Productivity with Collaboration Tools
In order for your team to be productive, communication and collaboration are essential. Collaboration tools allow you to get the most out of your team members.
2017-12-18
745 reads
Summarizing Data Using the GROUPING SETS Operator
Writing aggregate queries is one of the most important tasks for anyone working with T-SQL. Determining the expressions required in the GROUP BY clause is not that difficult, but what do you do if you need to include different combinations of group by expressions in the same result set? Alfonso demonstrates how to use the GROUPING SETS operator to accomplish this task.
2017-12-18
4,860 reads
Holidays and Calendar Generation
Create the definition of your holidays and have them available for any year. Create a Calendar including holidays and business/work dates.
2017-12-15 (first published: 2016-02-16)
10,716 reads
How to use Azure SQL Database features and settings
Vitor Montalvao explains how to work with the basic configuration settings for a SQL Azure database from the Microsoft Azure portal itself.
2017-12-15
4,054 reads
Questions About the GDPR That You Were Too Shy to Ask
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will affect organisations in countries around the world, not just those in Europe. The GDPR regulates how personal data is stored, moved, handled, and destroyed. Not following the regulation will lead to dire consequences for your organisation. As a data professional or developer, you may have many questions and might be wondering how it will affect the way you will do your job. William Brewer answers common questions about the GDPR that you were too shy to ask.
2017-12-14
3,329 reads
Blogs
The flight recorder: Replaying what an AI agent did on my SQL Server
By Arun Sirpal
“What exactly did it do on my server?” is the first question a DBA...
Announcements from the Microsoft Fabric Community Conference — Barcelona 2026
By James Serra
Microsoft shared a broad set of Fabric, Power BI, and SQL updates at FabCon...
Au Revoir for now
By Steve Jones
No, I’m not quitting or retiring. Just going on vacation, but I leave tonight...
Forums
Let's Talk Certifications
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Let's Talk Certifications
The Hidden Security Risks of Role Combination in SSAS Tabular
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The Hidden Security Risks of...
The Empty Aggregate
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The Empty Aggregate
Question of the Day
The Empty Aggregate
I have this table in a SQL Server 2025 database:
CREATE TABLE [dbo].[CustomerOrder] ( [OrderID] [int] NULL, [CustomerID] [int] NULL, [total] [money] NULL ) ON [PRIMARY] GOWhat is returned from this code? (answers are for the sum and then the count)
SELECT SUM(total) AS sum,
COUNT(total) AS count
FROM dbo.CustomerOrder;
See possible answers