Maybe the best way of helping the busy database professional to get started with practical PowerShell-based administration is to pull together all the essential community cmdlets into a toolkit for the POSH DBA, and explain how and why you'd use them.
2013-11-11
3,446 reads
Sqlcmd makes many SQL Server tasks, such as automating test runs and maintenance tasks, easier and quicker. The sqlcmd command-line utility is valuable to any database developer or DBA as the prime means of executing batches of SQL Statements to SQL servers, and saving results to file. Rob Sheldon gives you the basic facts about this great utility.
2013-11-08
6,993 reads
There is a lot of Microsoft buzz about Power BI and Excel these days, but customers need real-world, professional business intelligence solutions that meet their complex real-world requirements today. In this article, Jen Underwood shares what technologies were used to develop a dashboard solution for a Fortune Global 500 company using Microsoft Business Intelligence technologies, and why. Some of the decisions may surprise you and the lessons learned are sure to be of value.
2013-11-07
5,745 reads
Column Store Index, which improves performance of data warehouse queries several folds, was first introduced in SQL Server 2012. Though it had several limitations, now SQL Server 2014 enhances the columnstore index and overcomes several of the earlier limitations. In this article, Arshad Ali discusses how you can get started using the enhanced columnstore index feature in SQL Server 2014 and do some performance tests.
2013-11-06
4,375 reads
This article describes the SQL Server database restore principles for full backups, differential backups and transaction log backups and how to perform the restores to get to a particular point in time. This tip describes SQL Server database restore principles on a database that is using the FULL recovery model.
2013-11-05
5,308 reads
Creating and maintaining mutually beneficial relationships with external vendors is one of the pillars of good project management. Dwain Camps goes through what to expect and allow in your client-vendor relationship during the various stages of a given project to ensure its success and secure that all important win-win outcome.
2013-11-04
2,844 reads
Before the SQL Window functions were implemented, it was tricky to calculate rolling totals or moving averages efficiently in SQL Server. There are now a number of techniques, but which has the best performance? Dwain Camps gets out the metaphorical stopwatch.
2013-11-01
4,628 reads
Distributed applications are just that: distributed across one or more hardware platforms across the enterprise. The database administrator (DBA) has the unenviable task of monitoring these environments and configuring and tuning the database server to meet multiple needs. As multiple distributed applications now require access to a very large data store, what tuning options are available to help?
2013-10-31
3,024 reads
Too often, the batch systems that underlie a lot of database processing just grow without conscious design. When runs start to extend beyond their allotted time, and tuning no longer solves the problem, it is often discovered that batches are run in series, with draconian error handling. It is time to impose some rational design, and Nigel is a seasoned healer of batch processes.
2013-10-30
3,753 reads
I'm using SQL Server's built-in encryption to hide data in one of my SQL Server databases, but this is a reporting system and my end users need to be able to query the data without having to remember the specialized decryption functions. Is there a way to do this? Yes, there is, via the use of views.
2013-10-29
4,794 reads
By Brian Kelley
I will be leading an in-person Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) exam prep class...
EightKB is back again for 2026! The biggest online SQL Server internals conference is...
By HeyMo0sh
Working in DevOps long enough teaches you two universal truths: That’s exactly why I...
Hi all, I just started using VS Code to work with DB projects. I...
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Fun with JSON II
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Changing Data Types
I have some data in a table:
CREATE TABLE #test_data
(
id INT PRIMARY KEY,
name VARCHAR(100),
birth_date DATE
);
-- Step 2: Insert rows
INSERT INTO #test_data
VALUES
(1, 'Olivia', '2025-01-05'),
(2, 'Emma', '2025-03-02'),
(3, 'Liam', '2025-11-15'),
(4, 'Noah', '2025-12-22');
If I run this query, how many rows are returned?
SELECT t1.[key] AS row,
t2.*
FROM OPENJSON(
(
SELECT t.* FROM #test_data AS t FOR JSON PATH
)
) t1
CROSS APPLY OPENJSON(t1.value) t2; See possible answers