As each year goes by the uptime requirement for our databases gets larger and larger, meaning the downtime that we have to do maintenance on our databases is getting smaller and smaller. This tip will look at a feature that was introduced in SQL Server 2005 that allows us to leave our indexes online and accessible while they are being rebuilt.
2012-02-08
4,386 reads
In general XML documents or fragments are held in strings as text markup. In SQL Server, XML variables and columns are instead tokenised to allow rapid access to the data within. This is fine, but can cause some odd problems, such as ' entitization'. What do you do if you need to preserve the formatting? As usual Rob Sheldon comes to our aid.
2012-02-07
4,207 reads
One of the more popular counters used by DBAs to monitor SQL Server performance, the Buffer Cache Hit Ratio, is useless as a predictor of imminent performance problems. Worse, it can be misleading. Jonathan Kehayias demonstrates this convincingly with some simple tests.
2012-02-06
2,967 reads
A benefit of using computed columns is that they can save developers from having to write calculation logic at the application layer; at the table level, the application can simply reference the computed column. In addition, performance can be improved by persisting a computed column and building an index on it.
2012-02-03
2,708 reads
To kick off a series of DBA worst case scenarios, we asked Phil Factor to confess. He came up with a classic: The mistaken belief that a backup WITH CHECKSUM guaranteed a good backup that could be restored, and the ensuing disaster.
2012-02-02
5,280 reads
In a recent MSSQLTips.com question, a user asked how they could get an alert whenever a login failed due to the account being locked out. As with many problems, there are several ways to solve this issue.
2012-02-01
1,962 reads
Row Sampling Transformation and Percentage Sampling Transformation provide data sampling functionality. This functionality is useful in a number of Analysis Services and Data Mining-based scenarios.
2012-01-31
1,836 reads
The most common T-SQL command in use has to be the SELECT statement, it is the bedrock of any SQL Professional's day. Sometimes it's used to snatch some data from a table or two while some quick investigation is done, other times it is at the heart of a stored procedure or view that will inform business decisions for coming months or even years.
2012-01-30
4,672 reads
In this tip, we will see how to build a report which shows the cumulative sales amount for the current month, current quarter (QTD) and current year (YTD) in a single crosstab (tablix) report, which makes it easy to compare the data.
2012-01-27
2,781 reads
Every so often, the question comes up on forums of how to pass a list as a parameter to a SQL procedure or function. Phil Factor provides some examples using XML, and tests them against other popular methods.
2012-01-26
4,027 reads
By Steve Jones
One of the things a customer asked recently about Redgate Data Modeler was how...
By Steve Jones
For a number of years, we’ve produced the State of the Database Landscape report,...
By Steve Jones
I coach volleyball and I do a lot of stat stuff on paper. I...
Hi all, I've just had to roll back my SSMS 22 version from 22.3.0,...
Hi! I've been banging my head against the wall for 2 days now trying...
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The Power of Data and...
In SQL Server 2025, there is a new function that returns the current date without the time. What is it?
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