Additional Articles


External Article

The ETL from Hell - Diagnosing Batch System Performance Issues

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

External Article

SSIS Basics: Using the Merge Join Transformation

SSIS is able to take sorted data from more than one OLE DB data source and merge them into one table which can then be sent to an OLE DB destination. This 'Merge Join' transformation works in a similar way to a SQL join by specifying a 'join key' relationship. this transformation can save a great deal of processing on the destination. Annette Allen, as usual, gives clear guidance on how to do it.

2013-10-28

4,491 reads

External Article

SQL Server Storage Internals 101

This article is an extract from the book Tribal SQL. In this article, Mark S. Rasmussen offers a concise introduction to the physical storage internals behind SQL Server databases. He doesn't dive into every detail, but provides a simple, clear picture of how SQL Server stores data.

2013-10-21

3,767 reads

Technical Article

How to hot-add a vCPU to a virtual SQL Server

One of the benefits of running SQL on virtual environment is the capability to present additional vCPUs to the virtual server online and real-time without interruption to running processes. Our VM administrator normally presents only 1 vCPU on the virtual server and extends as required. This article describes how SQL Server is able to detect hot-added vCPUs in my virtual server.

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2013-10-18

2,865 reads

External Article

Replicating A Volume Of Large Data via Transactional Replication

During weekend maintenance, members of the support team executed an UPDATE statement against the database on the OLTP Server. This database was a part of Transactional Replication, and once the UPDATE statement was executed the Replication procedure came to a halt with an error message. Satnam Singh decided to work on this case and try to find an efficient solution to rebuild the procedure without significant downtime.

2013-10-17

2,886 reads

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Vectors in SQL Server 2025

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Odd Sequences

By Steve Jones - SSC Editor

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Question of the Day

Odd Sequences

What values are returned from this code?

CREATE SEQUENCE NumericSequence
    AS NUMERIC(5,1)
    START WITH 1.0
    INCREMENT BY 0.1;
GO
SELECT NEXT VALUE FOR NumericSequence
GO
SELECT NEXT VALUE FOR NumericSequence
GO

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