If you could list all the reasons I work, the number one reason would be to support my family. My definition of support includes spending an appropriate amount of time with family, not just working to support it. I suspect most of you would agree with that as a goal.
2009-02-04
1,886 reads
I'm continually trying to track down what service packs are installed on various SQL Servers I support. I can never find the right support page on Microsoft's site. So here's an article with all the SQL Server version information I can track down. If you know of any older versions or can help me fill out any missing data, please post in the comments and I'll update the article.
2009-02-04
3,287 reads
Installing the sample databases in SQL Server 2008 isn't as straightforward as in previous versions. Brian Knight shows what needs to be done in this video.
2009-02-03
3,922 reads
If you are building packages programmatically and adding data flow components, you will probably need to know the creation name of the component to add. I can never find a handy reference when I need one, hence this rather mundane post.
2009-02-03
1,319 reads
I always consider taking seminars and technical conferences as a key component in my DBA education framework
2009-02-03
1,484 reads
I had been doing the validation with a T-SQL User Defined Function (UDF), but it was getting too slow as the number of e-mails grew. I needed a faster alternative, what options do I have?
2009-02-03
3,559 reads
Continuing his discussion on SQL Server 2008 Data Collections, Greg Larsen explains how to create your own custom Data Collections.
2009-02-02
2,538 reads
It's been busy since my last update, lots of stuff to work on! I probably won't get it all in one post, but I'll try to hit the highlights. The main event over the past two weeks was my first board meeting in Seattle. I arrived Monday afternoon
2009-02-02
1,001 reads
ANSI SQL can perform breakthrough any-to-any hierarchical data structure reshaping. These are transformations that are performed utilizing only the structure semantics in the data assuring correct semantic results.
2009-02-02
1,284 reads
SELECT statements should be the most popular query in SQL Server, so why are they unpopular? It's the complex, confusing MDX SELECT statement that warehousing expert Vincent Rainardi is writing about.
2009-01-30 (first published: 2008-02-20)
34,610 reads
Next Monday, February 9, 2026, my one-day live online training SQL Server Query Tuning...
By Steve Jones
One of the features we advocates have been advocating for is a better way...
Microsoft fixed the AVX instruction issue in SQL Server 2025 CU1. The container now...
Comments posted to this topic are about the item 25 Years of SQL Server...
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The Decoded Value
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Deploying SQL Server Developer Edition...
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