It sounds simple enough. Either your column will always have a value or it may not. Yet somehow such a seemingly simple decision can become a never-ending debate where database schema begins to resemble superstition and designing effective tables seems more contentious than you expected it to be.
2016-02-26 (first published: 2014-10-30)
27,319 reads
A list of data sets you can download and play with for practice, demos, or your own analysis.
2016-02-26
7,262 reads
Although SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT) encourages 'disconnected' database development, it also provides the SQL Server Object Explorer (SSOX) tool in SSDT’s Visual Studio shell to connect to a live development instance or view an SSDT project once all references have been resolved.
2016-02-26
3,520 reads
Defining unique records in an Oracle table is necessary for employee data, and manufacturing part numbers and user names, to name a couple of examples. David Fitzjarrell looks at the various ways uniqueness can be defined, and which method may not be acceptable to third-party applications.
2016-02-26
386 reads
It’s easy to get caught up in daily incidents, tickets, and special projects. Like a good scout, though, a core task in a DBA’s job is to be prepared.
2016-02-25
7,615 reads
Today Steve Jones looks at the security enhancements in SQL Server 2016
2016-02-24
170 reads
Koen Verbeeck looks at how to embed data visualizations created with R into Reporting Services (SSRS) reports.
2016-02-24
3,902 reads
Have you ever longed for a way of making the delivery of databases more visible, predictable and measurable? Do you ever wish that they would be of better quality, quicker to change, and cost less? Grant Fritchey explains some of the secrets of doing Continuous Integration for Databases to relieve some of the pain-points of the Database Delivery process.
2016-02-23
4,082 reads
Greg Larsen explores the different ways that you can encrypt your existing confidential data using Always Encrypted Columns in SQL Server 2016.
2016-02-22
4,069 reads
This article gives an overview of the Microsoft Azure SQL Data Warehouse architecture. The new platform-as-a service (PaaS) offering provides independent compute and storage scaling on demand and is currently in public preview.
2016-02-19
4,066 reads
By Steve Jones
I don’t have SQL Server installed on my laptop. In an effort to keep...
Slow-running queries can degrade your Redshift cluster’s performance and lead to increased costs. Identifying...
By gbargsley
If you've been here before, you know this blog is usually about SQL Server,...
Hi all Can I get some perspective from the community please on performing in-place...
Comments posted to this topic are about the item How Long is a Long...
Comments posted to this topic are about the item T-SQL Trigonometric Functions in SQL...
In SQL Server 2025, a long I/O is recorded in the error log with message 833. How long much an I/O request be outstanding before this message is written to the log?
See possible answers