SQL Server Filtered Index Essentials Guide
Learn about using filtered indexes for SQL Server tables and some of the potential issues you might be faced with when using a filtered index.
2024-05-08
Additional Articles
Snake draft sorting in SQL Server, part 2
In my previous post, I showed how to borrow a snake draft concept from fantasy football, or a packing technique from the shipping industry, to distribute different portions of a workload to run in parallel.
2024-05-06
Managing Failed Pipeline Runs in Azure Data Factory
In this article, we look at how to setup different ways to handle pipeline failures and notifications when working with Azure and Azure Data Factory.
2024-05-03
Snake draft sorting in SQL Server, part 1
I recently had a restore job where I needed to split the work up into multiple parallel processes (which I’ll refer to here as “threads”). I wanted to balance the work so that the duration was something significantly less than the sum of the restore times
2024-05-01
Learning Spark SQL String Functions with Explanations and Code Examples
Learn how to use different Spark SQL string functions to manipulate string data with explanations and code examples.
2024-04-29
SQL Logic
In this article, I will discuss the history and thinking behind several types of logic that are typically associated with writing relational database code.
2024-04-26
Does Your GROUP BY Order Matter?
Sometimes when you do GROUP BY, the order of the columns does matter. For example, these two SELECT queries produce different results:
2024-04-24
Kubernetes For Complete Beginners
Container orchestration has become a cornerstone of modern application deployment. For beginners stepping into the world of modern application deployment and orchestration, understanding the essence and significance of Kubernetes is essential.
2024-04-22
Pagination and ordering by large values
Pagination is a technique for limiting output. Think of Google search results, shopping the electronics category on Amazon, or browsing tagged questions on Stack Overflow. Nobody could consume all of the results in a single shot, and no site wants to spend the resources required to present them all to us
2024-04-19
Get the most out of SQL Server Agent logs
If you haven’t migrated your workloads to a managed database platform yet, you’re probably still relying on SQL Server Agent for various maintenance and other scheduled tasks. Most of the time, these processes just work. But when it’s time to troubleshoot, it can be cumbersome to get to the root of some problems.
2024-04-17
Blogs
Identity Columns Can’t Be Updated: #SQLNewBlogger
By Steve Jones
I’m not sure I knew identity column values could not be updated. I ran...
Rolling Back a Broken Release
By Steve Jones
We had an interesting discussion about deployments in databases and how you go forward...
A bespoke reporting solution doesn’t have to cost the earth
By ChrisJenkins
You could be tolerating limited reporting because there isn’t an off the shelf solution...
Forums
Can someone please explain what happens?
I have mentioned this several times over several years. Can someone please help me...
SELECT COUNT(DISTINCT) returns null when nothing is found instead of 0
SELECT COUNT(DISTINCT Component) AS Found FROM tblComponents WHERE(Component NOT LIKE '%[a-z]%') AND(LTRIM(RTRIM(Component)) = 'GM13622')...
Remotely Engineer Fabric Lakehouse objects: The Fabric Modern Data Platform
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Remotely Engineer Fabric Lakehouse objects:...
Question of the Day
Creating JSON III
In a SQL Server 2025 table, called Beer, I have this data:
BeerIDBeerName 1Becks 2Fat Tire 3Mac n Jacks 4Alaskan Amber 8KirinI run this code:
SELECT JSON_OBJECTAGG(
BeerID: BeerName )
FROM beer;
What are the results? See possible answers