Partition Level Locking: Explanations From Outer Space
Erik Darling partitions the Stack Overflow database, then uses sp_WhoIsActive's @get_locks = 1 parameter to demo locking.
2017-12-13
3,150 reads
Articles
Checking SQL Server with Policy-Based Management
Policy-Based Management, a feature of SQL Server, is a flexible tool that can help DBAs manage one or more SQL Server instances. It's used for monitoring and enforcing a standard set of policies for SQL Server throughout an organization. While there are many built-in conditions from which to choose, Dennes demonstrates how to set up a custom policy as well as a standard one. Viewing the policy status over many servers can be tedious, so he also explains how DBAs can evaluate the states of multiple servers with just one glance.
2017-12-12
2,640 reads
Azure SQL Database Virtual Network Service Endpoints and Rules
One of the most commonly requested Azure SQL Database features has been support for more granular control of server-level firewall settings. A recently announced public preview of Azure SQL Database and Data Warehouse VNET service endpoints and rules promises to address this limitation.
2017-12-11
2,346 reads
How Much Data Has Changed Since Your Last Full Backup
Have you ever wanted to know how many pages in your database have changed since the last full backup? If so, then you will be glad to hear that the SQL Server 2017 version of the DMV, sys.dm_db_file_spavce_usage, has a new column named modified_extent_page_count, which shows the number of pages that have changed since the last full backup.
2017-12-08
3,696 reads
How to store Excel files In SQL Table
This article will show how to store images, document and all other files in SQL Table.
2017-12-07
20,332 reads
SQL Server Internals: In-Memory OLTP
In this book, Kalen Delaney explains how the 2016 In-Memory OLTP engine works, how it stores and manipulates data, and how, even with all data stored in memory and no locking or latching, it can still guarantee the ACID properties of all transactions.
2017-12-07
2,008 reads
SQL Server R Services: Working with Multiple Data Sets
Although it is easy to use SQL Server R Services to create R scripts that incorporate SQL Server data by passing in a T-SQL query as an argument when calling the sp_execute_external_script stored procedure, you are limited to that one query, unless you pass additional data directly between R and SQL Server via CSV files. It is simple to do, and opens up many additional opportunities for data analysis. Robert Sheldon explains how.
2017-12-07
3,542 reads
Correlation Analysis using Correlation Plot in Power BI Desktop
Power BI provides correlation plot visualization in the Power BI Visuals Gallery to create Correlation Plots for correlation analysis. In this post, Siddharth Mehta shows how to create a correlation plot in Power BI Desktop using a sample dataset of car performance.
2017-12-06
2,780 reads
Book Review: Database Reliability Engineering by Campbell & Majors
Brent Ozar explains why DBAs should read this book about the future of database administration at scale.
2017-12-05
3,193 reads
Importing JSON Data from Web Services and Applications into SQL Server
To support many applications, it makes sense for the database to work with JSON data, because it is the built-in way for a JavaScript or TypeScript application to represent object data. It can mean less network traffic, looser coupling, and less need for the application developer to require full access to the base tables of the database. However, it means that the database must do plenty of checks first before importing. Phil Factor explains how it can be easily done.
2017-12-04
4,513 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
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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