Tagging SQL Server Changes in SQL Monitor
How to use RAISERROR() in T-SQL to send annotations to SQL Monitor, so you can observe the direct impact of application tasks, or server changes, on the SQL Server metrics.
2020-03-27
299 reads
Additional Articles
Evaluating SQL Data Catalog using Docker Containers
Richard Macaskill shows how to use Docker Compose to get SQL Data Catalog up and running in a container, in your SQL Server test lab, and then use it to evaluate its data discovery and categorization capabilities on a containerized SQL Server instance.
2020-03-26
Virtual Reality
While we are centuries away from the Holodeck experience, we can take advantage of today’s technology for fun or education.
2020-03-26
431 reads
Storage 101: Understanding the NAND Flash Solid State Drive
Today, most organization are using solid-state drives for everything from laptops to enterprise database storage and virtual machines. In this article, Robert Sheldon explains how NAND flash solid-state drives work.
2020-03-25
823 reads
Using SQL Monitor Groups in PowerShell
Not only are SQL Monitor Groups probably the neatest and most maintainable way of ensuring that all your SQL Servers have the best possible configuration of alerts, but they represent a powerful way of categorizing your SQL Server estate. In this article, I'll show how to use the SQL Monitor PowerShell API to export these groups, save their settings onto a configuration management system, or compare groups of settings to see the differences between them.
2020-03-25
810 reads
Avoid using constants in an ORDER BY clause
Phil Factor explains why an ORDER BY clause should always specify the sort columns using their names, or aliases, rather than using an integer to specify the position of a column in the SELECT list.
2020-03-24
Power BI Dashboard vs Report vs Workbook
There are many different ways to present data using Power BI and this tip looks at these different methods such as Power BI Dashboards, Power BI Workbooks and Power BI Reports.
2020-03-24
SQL ConstantCare® Population Report: Winter 2020
Ever wonder what’s “normal” out there for SQL Server adoption rates, hardware sizes, or numbers of databases? Let’s find out.
2020-03-23
What’s New in SQL Monitor 10?
New release: SQL Monitor 10
SQL Monitor 10 has landed! You can now integrate SQL Monitor alerts with your ticket management system, so chosen alerts are automatically raised as tickets. New suppression options give you granular control over what alerts are raised during specific times, such as maintenance windows. And, you can now annotate the server activity graph with specific events, so you can measure their impact on your servers.
Discover the new features
2020-03-23
Free Fundamentals of Index Tuning Week: Part 3, Indexing for Joins
Previously we covered Part 1: Indexing for the WHERE Clause, and then we covered ORDER BY. Today, let’s tackle joins.
2020-03-20
Blogs
Experimenting with CHOOSE: #SQLNewBlogger
By Steve Jones
I was looking over the CHOOSE() function while editing an article at SQL Server...
Fighting Procrastination?
By Brian Kelley
Here is another short video (~ 15 minutes). This is by the author of...
A Fun Prize at the PASS Data Community Summit
By Steve Jones
I had a briefing for the 2026 PASS Data Community Summit, which is just...
Forums
SQL Server 2025 Server-level Roles
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Stairway to DAX and Power BI - Level 29: The DAX Combine & Aggregate Functions
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AI Is Improving Security
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Question of the Day
SQL Server 2025 Server-level Roles
In SQL Server 2022+, what does the ##MS_DatabaseConnector## role allow?
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