COALESCE in SQL Server
Sandeep Mittal provides an introduction to the COALESCE function and shows how to use it.
2015-11-25
4,572 reads
Additional Articles
Azure SQL Database - Transparent Data Encryption
Transparent Data Encryption offers the ability to encrypt content of the database, its transaction logs, as well as backups while at rest. Encryption and decryption are performed in real-time, at the individual page level, as the database is being written to and read from storage, without necessitating changes to applications accessing their data. Marcin Policht reviews the feature.
2015-11-24
4,471 reads
SQL Server Heaps, and Their Fragmentation
In SQL Server, heaps are rightly treated with suspicion. Although there are rare cases where they perform well, they are likely to be the cause of poor performance. If a table is likely to have a large number of changes, then it can become fragmented due to way that space is allocated and forward pointers used. How does one detect this problem? Is it significant? How does one deal with it, if necessary? Neeraj Tripathi explains.
2015-11-23
3,694 reads
Using SQL Prompt to Accelerate the Top 10 Most Common Database Scripts
There may be some people who enjoy repetitive typing, but Grant Fritchey doesn't. He's always preferred SQL Prompt. The standard snippets suit developers fine but aren't so DBA-oriented, so he set about asking the SQLServerCentral community what they typed in the most, and set about producing a set of DBA snippets with the results.
2015-11-20
4,144 reads
Installing SQL Server 2016
Greg Larson walks through the GUI installation process for SQL Server 2016 and explore these new installation options.
2015-11-19
4,175 reads
Is SQL Server killing your application’s performance?
When an application suffers from performance problems, it’s common to assume the database is at fault. Ben Emmett examines why this often isn’t the case, and shows how you can dig into a .NET application’s use of SQL Server.
2015-11-18
4,405 reads
Questions About CUBE, ROLLUP and GROUPING SETs That You Were Too Shy to Ask
There are few parts of SQL Syntax as familiar as the GROUP BY clause of the SELECT statement. On the other hand, CUBE and ROLLUP remain mysterious despite their usefulness and GROUPING SET is positively arcane, especially if you are too shy to reveal your ignorance of the subject by asking! William Brewer saves you the hassle.
2015-11-17
4,187 reads
Hash Joins on Nullable Columns
Paul White explores some less well-known query optimizer features and limitations, and explains the reasons for extremely poor hash join performance in a specific case.
2015-11-16
3,593 reads
Capture Execution Plan Warnings using Extended Events
Erin Stellato of SQLskills shows how to use Extended Events to monitor for query plans with certain characteristics, such as joins missing predicates, columns missing statistics, and unmatched filtered indexes.
2015-11-13
2,571 reads
Automating Your SQL Server Best Practice Reports: The Document
If you're making a report from table-based data, an MS Word document is often a good option. In the second part of his introduction to SQL Server best-practice monitoring, Laerte Junior shows how to use PowerShell scripts to create a Word-based report with colour-coded alerts where there are problems or best practices aren't being followed.
2015-11-12
8,610 reads
Blogs
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Forums
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Question of the Day
String Similarity II
What is the range for the result from the EDIT_DISTANCE_SIMILARITY() function in SQL Server 2025?
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