Trust
Trust is a big part of any DBA's job. But it seems that many people in society trust each other less and less all the time. Steve Jones has a few comments on this important subject.
2009-02-09
89 reads
Articles
How To Retrieve Excel Schema Information Using SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) 2005
How can we determine the sheet names in our SSIS package and process this variable number of sheets?
2009-02-06
4,516 reads
New data profiling tools in SQL Server 2008
New data-profiling tools native to SQL Server 2008 Integration Services such as the Data Profiling task and the Data Profiler Viewer help manage a business intelligence strategy.
2009-02-06
3,213 reads
Who Do We Choose to Follow?
Think about your career and the managers, and potentially leaders, that you’ve had in your life. Think about life in general and who do you admire, who have you modeled yourself after or who you wanted to follow in sports, in a hobby, in life, etc.
2009-02-06
1,353 reads
Mining Model Viewers - SQL School Video
In this video MVP Brian Knight explains how you can use the model viewers to see how the data mining task will process your data.
2009-02-05
2,051 reads
All the Aggregates you crave with Grouping Sets in SQL Server 2008
As reporting requirements increase, it seems that aggregate functionalities have thankfully risen to the occasion concurrently. To maintain its competitive edge as Staples Canada’s best vendor, BaldGorilla, where I’m currently consulting, has been able...
2009-02-05
2,050 reads
Creating packages in code - OLE-DB Source to Raw File Destination
This code sample programmatically creates a package with an OLE-DB Source and a Raw File Destination, and the resulting package exports data from SQL Server to a raw file. The finished package just has the one Data Flow Task shown below.
2009-02-05
2,139 reads
Where is the Surface Area Configuration tool in SQL Server 2008
I just installed a new instance of SQL Server 2008 and I can't find the Surface Area Configuration tool that I used to use in SQL Server 2005. How can I manage the Database Engine features in SQL Server 2008?
2009-02-05
4,065 reads
SQL Function : Find ‘X’ Business Days in the Future
Many of us deal in date calculations and separating business days from calendar days is always a challenge. New author J Gravelle brings us a new article that talks about this subject as a way of ensuring SLAs are met.
2009-02-04
10,824 reads
Gaining the benefits of DMVs for SQL Server
Dynamic management views help monitor SQL Server health and tune performance. Learn how to use DMVs to retrieve critical data on the internal workings of SQL Server.
2009-02-04
3,381 reads
Blogs
Don’t Miss Out – SQL Server Query Tuning Fundamentals Starts Next Monday!
Next Monday, February 9, 2026, my one-day live online training SQL Server Query Tuning...
Monday Monitor Tips: SQL Auditing Preview
By Steve Jones
One of the features we advocates have been advocating for is a better way...
SQL Server 2025 CU1 Fixes the Docker Desktop AVX Issue on macOS
Microsoft fixed the AVX instruction issue in SQL Server 2025 CU1. The container now...
Forums
25 Years of SQL Server Central
Comments posted to this topic are about the item 25 Years of SQL Server...
The Decoded Value
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The Decoded Value
Deploying SQL Server Developer Edition in Kubernetes: A Cost-Effective Alternative to RDS
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Deploying SQL Server Developer Edition...
Question of the Day
The Decoded Value
In SQL Server 2025, what is returned from this code:
DECLARE @message VARCHAR(50) = 'Hello SQL Server 2025!'; DECLARE @encoded VARCHAR(MAX); SET @encoded = BASE64_ENCODE(CAST(@message AS VARBINARY(1000))); SELECT BASE64_DECODE(@encoded)See possible answers