Byte Me: Spy Where?

Performance Surprises and Assumptions: STRING_SPLIT

SQL Server 2016 RC0 introduces a new native string splitting function, STRING_SPLIT. In this article, Aaron Bertrand compares its performance to existing methods.

A SQL Server Patching Shortcut

This post on SQL Server patching illustrates a quick and simple way of safely extracting SQL Server installation files in advance of patching a SQL Server instance.

The 2015/2016 Simple-Talk Awards

Once more Simple-Talk invites its readers to vote on the top nominations for the Simple-Talk Awards. Find out who or what has been nominated for each of this year's nine categories, and cast your vote to decide the winners - voting closes tomorrow!

Move an Existing Log Shipping Database to a New Monitor Server

How to move a log shipping database to a new monitor server without removing and rebuilding the log shipping setup.

Bad Cardinality Estimates from SSMS Plans – Redux

Aaron Bertrand shares some insight about early changes to Plan Explorer that help to provide you with the most accurate information we can.

New MySQL Engine Supports T-SQL

MySQL has a new query processor that will run your T-SQL code.

If SQL Server Runs on Linux, What's Left for April Fools Day

It’s still a bit hard to believe that SQL Server will soon run on Linux. If you think back to the early days of SQL 7, 2000, even 2005, who would have bet any money on it ever happening?

Relational Algebra and its implications for NoSQL databases

With the rise of NoSQL databases that are exploiting aspects of SQL for querying, and are embracing full transactionality, is there a danger of the data-document model's hierarchical nature causing a fundamental conflict with relational theory? We asked our relational expert, Hugh Bin-Haad to expound a difficult area for database theorists.

Creating a Date Dimension in a Tabular Model

As well as its multidimensional model, SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS) now has a tabular model of database that either runs in-memory or in DirectQuery mode. The in-memory analytics engine allows the users of Excel or Power View to base reports on tabular model objects. Having shown how to handle date-based information using the Multi-dimensional model, Dennes now turns his attention on the in-memory tabular model.