One of the most certain ways of going wrong with any relational database is to get data conversion wrong. Implicit data conversion is a good feature for the expert but can cause a lot of trouble to the unwary. These boil down to seven ways of failing to get data conversion right. Rob Sheldon explains and gives sage advice on how to avoid the problems.
2015-04-20
7,337 reads
The job of a DBA requires a fusion of skill and knowledge. To acquire this requires a craftsman mindset. Craftsmen find that the better they get at the work, the more enjoyable the work gets, and the more successful they become. Deliberate practice, Specialization and an appetite for overcoming difficulty are good habits to deliberately adopt to successfully grow those craftsmanlike skills to the point that you become “so good they can’t ignore you”.
2015-04-17
9,586 reads
Using SQL to perform cluster analysis to gain insight into data with unknown groups
2015-04-16
5,184 reads
There are times when you don’t what to return a complete set of records. When you have this kind of requirement to only select the TOP X number of items Transact SQL (TSQL) has the TOP clause to meet your needs. In this article Greg Larsen explores how to select a subset of data from a record set.
2015-04-16
9,580 reads
2015-04-15
538 reads
Spatial Data in SQL Server has special indexing because it has to perform specialised functions. It is able, for example, to break down an indexed space into a grid hierarchy by using a technique called tessellation. This is a rules-based system that, when you compare a shape to an index, works out how many cells in the the grid hierarchy are touched by that shape , and how deep down the grid hierarchy to search. There is powerful magic in Spatial Indexes as Surenda and Roy explain.
2015-04-15
7,242 reads
Aaron Bertrand presents a more elegant to prevent developers from attempting to log into production databases using application logins (and to log any such attempts).
2015-04-14
7,318 reads
It is always bad news if your SQL queries are having to use the SORT operator. It is worse news if you get a warning that sort operations are spilling onto TempDB. If you have a busy, slow TempDB, then the effect on performance can be awful. You should check your query plans to try to eliminate SORTs and never leave a SORT warning unheeded. Fabiano Amorim shows the range of ways of getting information on what is going on with a query that is doing a SORT and when requests are made for memory.
2015-04-13
8,822 reads
As a developer working with SQL Server, you'll need to work with DBAs at one point or another. Here are some easy ways to make those conversations go smoothly.
2015-04-10 (first published: 2013-09-24)
18,367 reads
Was the marketing hook 'The Internet of Things' conjured up before the technical definition? Are we being persuaded to spend money on fending off yet another fantasy tsunami of data? Already, we have televisions that listen to, and report, your conversations; so are we facing the Science Fiction future of gadgets that report where you go, who you visit and what medications you take? As Robert Sheldon says; "It's big, almost too big to get your arms around".
2015-04-10
11,037 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...
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Using PowerBI Version1.25.9508.3237(January 2026). Installed Microsoft Power BI Desktop (Optimized for Power BI Report...
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?
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