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Statistics on Ascending Columns

It comes as rather a shock to find out that one of the commonest circumstances in an OLTP database, an ascending primary key with most querying on the latest records, can throw the judgement of the Query Optimiser to the extent that perfomance nose-dives. Fabiano Amorim once again dons snorkel and goggles to explore the murky depths of execution plans to find out why.

2011-09-16

2,528 reads

External Article

SQL Server Index Statistics

Are your index statistics up to date? The SQL Server database engine uses statistics to determine which execution plan to use when a query is compiled. Index statistics are used to help the SQL Server engine determine the cardinality of different column values in a SQL Server table. If you want to give SQL Server a fighting chance at picking an optimal execution plan then you need to make sure you maintain your index statistics.

2011-09-14

3,901 reads

External Article

The SQL Server Query Optimizer

To understand how to write SQL code for SQL Server that performs well, it is important to appreciate how the query optimizer works. Ben Nevarez explains the essentials, in a broad sweep through a complex subject, in an article taken from his new book 'Inside the SQL Server Query Optimizer'.

2011-09-09

4,876 reads

External Article

SQL Server 2008 and 2008 R2 Integration Services - Analysis Services Execute DDL Task

The term DDL designates Data Definition Language, which implies an action involving creating data structures. In the context of Analysis Services Execute DDL Task, this is a bit of a misnomer because its capabilities are much more diverse, extending to such areas as backups, restores, deletions, modifications, or processing. This is accomplished by employing Analysis Services Scripting Language (ASSL).

2011-09-07

2,257 reads

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Question of the Day

BIT_COUNT I

In SQL Server 2025, I have a table (dbo.UserPermission) that contains this data:

UserID  UserPermissions
15
23
37
What is returned when I run this code:
select bit_count(UserPermissions) as PermissionCount
from dbo.UserPermission
where UserID = 3;

See possible answers