Download tSQLt Today and Start Unit Testing
The latest version of tSQLt is now available with some SQL Prompt snippets to help you get started.
2015-07-30
1,758 reads
Articles
SQL Server Archive and Data Retention Considerations
Tim Smith looks at what to take into consideration before building a design to archive old data in SQL Server databases.
2015-07-30
2,895 reads
Demystifying Oracle's Clustering Factor
One of the more confusing statistics in Oracle is one called the clustering factor. Associated with an index, it's actually dependent on the table data, more specifically the distance between 'jumps' for a given index key. Commonly, a 'jump' is the number of blocks between rows containing the given index key starting with the first block found containing that key. If that sounds confusing don't despair, David Fitzjarrell explains in detail.
2015-07-29
3,764 reads
The Importance of Maintenance on MSDB
MSDB is a system database used by SQL Server. MSDB stores all sorts of data, such as backup history, log shipping monitor history, SSIS packages and Service Broker queue data to name a few. Just like user databases, MSDB needs regular maintenance, including index optimizations and, more importantly, regular purging. In this article, Tim Radney looks at how neglecting your MSDB can negatively impact on your environment.
2015-07-28
6,714 reads
Learning Backup to Azure
References and links to get you started in backing up your database to the Azure blob storage.
2015-07-27
815 reads
Can Code Review Be Automated?
Code must be checked, but how? Phil Factor shares his thoughts on automating SQL code reviews.
2015-07-27
5,104 reads
SAN and NAS protocols and how they impact SQL Server
Discusses the various SAN and NAS protocols (FC, iSCSI, NFS) and how choosing one over the other can impact your SQL Server Performance.
2015-07-24 (first published: 2012-04-24)
18,222 reads
SQL Explained
A short explanation and infographic of what SQL is. For the non-SQL people in your life.
2015-07-24
8,743 reads
SQL Style Habits: Attack of the Skeuomorphs
Although we like to think that our programming techniques are progressive and in tune with the bleeding edge of software development practices, too often they are directly influenced by restrictions faced when computers first became mainstream in the post-war decades. In this article Joe Celko looks at the history of mainframes, FORTRAN I and COBOL.
2015-07-24
5,006 reads
Is It Worth Writing Unit Tests?
What's the overhead for writing unit tests? Ed Elliot breaks it down, looking at the ways in which unit tests both take more time and save time.
2015-07-23
8,630 reads
Blogs
Self-Hosting a Photo Server the Whole Family Can Use
By Bert Wagner
Until recently, my family's 90,000+ photos have been hidden away in the depths of...
Start with the FabricTools PowerShell module
By Kamil
Managing Microsoft Fabric at scale quickly becomes painful if you rely only on the...
Enterprise AI Operating Rhythm – Top 5 practices for 2026
2025 exposed a growing gap between AI ambition and operational reality. As budgets tightened...
Forums
UNISTR Escape
Comments posted to this topic are about the item UNISTR Escape
Celebrating Tomorrow
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Celebrating Tomorrow
SQL Art: I Made a Christmas Card In SSMS
Comments posted to this topic are about the item SQL Art: I Made a...
Question of the Day
UNISTR Escape
In SQL Server 2025, I run this command:
SELECT UNISTR('*3041*308A*304C\3068 and good night', '*') as "A Classic";
What is returned? (assume the database has an appropriate collation)
A: 
B: 
C: 
See possible answers