DevOps and “Shift Left” for Databases
The easiest way of explaining how a DevOps approach to database deployment can dramatically speed up the process is to use the term ‘shift-left’. By performing, or at least...
2017-03-01
5,552 reads
Additional Articles
One way to get an index seek for a leading %wildcard
In an effort to make leading wildcard searches sargable, Aaron Bertrand plays around with a trigram-type implementation in SQL Server.
2017-02-28
5,792 reads
Encrypting SQL Server: Using an Encryption Hierarchy to Protect Column Data
SQL Server Encryption is an essential part of what is required for protecting data. Column-level encryption can be a very effective way of doing this. In the first in a series of articles on the theme of SQL Server Encryption, Robert Sheldon once more makes it all seem easy.
2017-02-27
5,321 reads
Using SQL SERVER and Cloud Hosted Databases with OBIEE 11g
If your organisation is committed to using Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition (OBIEE) 10g/11g /12c as their BI solution, you aren't thereby committed to using Oracle throughout your organisation. You can use a range of data sources including SQL Server, and save a great deal of money by doing so. Sadly, Oracle will only support the use of the venerable SQL Server 2008 R2. Zafar Ali demonstrates how to connect OBIEE to the world beyond Oracle.
2017-02-24
4,245 reads
Performance Surprises and Assumptions : GROUP BY vs. DISTINCT
Aaron Bertrand acknowledges that DISTINCT and GROUP BY are usually interchangeable, but shows there are cases where one performs better than the other.
2017-02-23
8,502 reads
Questions About the Use of PowerShell That you were Too Shy to Ask
Let's forget the actual PowerShell code for a moment: Why is PowerShell important? Why should I use it? Where did it come from? Why did it take so long to arrive? These and many other basic questions are answered in William Brewer's latest addition to the series that answers those seemingly simple questions that you were too shy to ask in public.
2017-02-22
7,518 reads
Getting Started with Azure SQL Data Warehouse - Part 1
As the demand for data analytics grows so does the need for a technology or platform to process large amounts of different types of data in timely manner. Azure SQL Data Warehouse is a new enterprise-class, elastic petabyte-scale, data warehouse service that can scale according to organizational demands in just a few minutes. Read on to learn more about this data warehouse-as-a-service offering from Microsoft.
2017-02-21
5,158 reads
New CREATE OR ALTER statement in SQL Server 2016 SP1
Ahmad Yaseen explains what SQL Server 2016 SP1's new CREATE OR ALTER statement does, and how to use it.
2017-02-20
5,523 reads
Introduction to SAP HANA on Azure
Microsoft and SAP share a long history of working together on a variety of interoperability solutions, including SAP Fiori and Office 365. In recent years, this trend has been exemplified by advancements in support for SAP-based solutions on Microsoft Azure. Marcin Policht provides an overview, focusing in particular on support for SAP HANA on Azure.
2017-02-17
4,185 reads
Lists With, or Without, Ranges in both T-SQL and PowerShell
Whether you are working in a procedural language like PowerShell or in T-SQL, there is something slightly bothersome about having to deal with parameters that are lists, or worse with ranges amongst the values. In fact, once you have a way of dealing with them, they can be convenient, especially when bridging the gulf between application and the database. Phil Factor shows how to deal with them.
2017-02-16
4,920 reads
Blogs
The Book of Redgate: Spread across the world
By Steve Jones
This was Redgate in 2010, spread across the globe. First the EU/US Here’s Asia...
Merry Christmas
By John
Today is Christmas and while I do not expect anybody to actual be reading...
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...
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Happy Holidays, Let's Do Nerdy Stuff
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UNISTR Escape
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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