What is DevOps really?
Ops and Development people have plenty of ideas for improving the whole software delivery process, but the task of developing, maturing and communicating these ideas isn't often in their...
2014-05-20
5,187 reads
Additional Articles
Introduction to the SQL Server Analysis Services Neural Network Data Mining Algorithm
In data mining and machine learning circles, the neural network is one of the most difficult algorithms to explain. Fortunately, SQL Server Analysis Services allows for a simple implementation of the algorithm for data analytics. Dallas Snider explains
2014-05-19
3,590 reads
Microsoft Azure Diagnostics Part 1: Introduction
Having a well thought-out plan for diagnostic data is important for on-premises applications, but it is arguably more important for distributed, highly scalable cloud applications. Michael Collier has provided a clear introduction to Microsoft Azure Diagnostics, including the Diagnostics Agent and how to extract the data.
2014-05-16
2,747 reads
Validate File Properties with PowerShell Prior to Import into SQL Server
We recently faced an issue where an internal data provider began providing an incomplete or inaccurate files because it lacked the proper length (or didn't exceed a certain size). In our case, we implemented a check on the file before importing using PowerShell, here's what we did.
2014-05-15
2,501 reads
The Performance of Traversing a SQL Hierarchy
Dwain Camps shows that, depending on the size and characteristics of some hierarchical data, six different methods of traversal can each be the fastest at some point. He illustrates the danger in generalizing from just one set of test data, and that it's foolish to assume that just because SQL code looks neat, it will perform well.
2014-05-14
2,625 reads
SQL Injection: How it Works and How to Thwart it
This is an extract from the book Tribal SQL. In this article, Kevin Feasel explains SQL injection attacks, how to defend against them, and how to keep your Chief Information Security Officer from appearing on the nightly news.
2014-05-13
6,136 reads
Restricting IO Using SQL Server 2014 Resource Governor
With the introduction of SQL Server 2014 the Microsoft team has enhanced the Resource Governor to now cover I/O. Greg Larsen shows you how to set up Resource Governor to limit the resources for those large I/O operations.
2014-05-12
2,184 reads
Improve SSIS data flow buffer performance
In this tip we have a very simple data flow using a source query with a predictable duration. The data flow takes longer to process all the rows and even larger buffers didn't make the problem go away. What can be the cause of this and how do we solve this? Koen Verbeeck explains.
2014-05-08
4,049 reads
12 SQL Server XML Questions You Were Too Shy To Ask
Robert Sheldon answers 12 questions about XML, including situations you would want to use XML, and how to do basic tasks.
2014-05-07
8,085 reads
How column COLLATION can affect SQL Server query performance
Most DBAs, myself included, install SQL Server with the default server collation SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS and all of our table columns get created using this default setting. This tip will look at the performance impacts of querying data with this setting as it compares to querying columns with the collation set to SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CS_AS.
2014-05-06
4,752 reads
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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