It is often generalized that seeks are better than scans in terms of retrieving data from SQL Server. The index hint FORCESCAN was recently introduced so that you could coerce the optimizer to perform a scan instead of a seek. Which might lead you to wonder: Why would I ever want a scan instead of a seek?
2014-08-15
8,926 reads
With a hybrid cloud, can you get the freedom and flexibility of a public cloud with the security and bandwidth of a private cloud? Robert Sheldon explains all the ins and outs.
2014-08-14
10,175 reads
This article looks at some automated approaches of monitoring SQL Server agent jobs.
2014-08-13
9,647 reads
In this tip, Koen Verbeeck explores how to apply business intelligence solutions to administrative tasks, specifically creating custom reports and adding them to SQL Server Management Studio.
2014-08-12
10,920 reads
In the first in a series on the practicalities of using the Microsoft Azure Platform for the SQL Server professional, Buck Woody shows that, whatever your version of SQL Server, there is a way of storing offsite backups in the cloud.
2014-08-11
9,549 reads
It is awkward to do 'Graph databases' in SQL to explore the sort of relationships and memberships in social networks because equivalence relations are classes (a set of sets) rather than sets. However one can explore graphs in SQL if the relationship has all three of the mathematical properties needed for an equivalence relationship.
2014-08-08
9,485 reads
Joe Celko & Chris Date guest as the sinister Relational Police in this new DBA Team adventure. Can the DBA Team save another doomed database? Find out.
2014-08-07
11,971 reads
Encryption brings data into a state which cannot be interpreted by anyone who does not have access to the decryption key, password, or certificates. Hashing brings a string of characters of arbitrary size into a usually shorter fixed-length value or key. Here's how to get started using it.
2014-08-06
10,471 reads
For date and time based testing, I use what I like to call "mock-time". The mock-time starts at what ever I set it to, but then advances along with the regular system clock. Andy Novick shows how that would work.
2014-08-05
9,532 reads
Technical support teams usually support familiar hardware and software configurations. Specialization in particular combinations of operating systems and database management software is common, and this allows some team members to gain in-depth experience that is extremely valuable in an enterprise IT setting. How has big data changed this paradigm?
2014-08-04
10,972 reads
By Steve Jones
This was Redgate in 2010, spread across the globe. First the EU/US Here’s Asia...
By John
Today is Christmas and while I do not expect anybody to actual be reading...
By Bert Wagner
Until recently, my family's 90,000+ photos have been hidden away in the depths of...
Comments posted to this topic are about the item UNISTR Escape
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Celebrating Tomorrow
Comments posted to this topic are about the item SQL Art: I Made a...
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