By validating the IO path before commissioning the production database system, and performing ongoing validation through page checksums and DBCC checks, you can hopefully avoid data corruption altogether, or at least nip it in the bud. If corruption occurs, then you have to take the right decisions fast to deal with it. Rod Colledge explains how a pessimistic mindset can be an advantage
2010-06-03
2,506 reads
SQL Server 2005 includes a number of built-in reports to assist you in troubleshooting and measuring performance. In this tip I will cover the Built in SQL Server Performance Reports related to SQL Server Agent within SQL Server 2005.
2010-06-02
5,167 reads
A DBA's huge workload can start to threaten best practices for data backup and recovery, but ingenuity, and an eye for a good tactic, can usually find a way. For Tom, the revelation about a solution came from eating crabs. Statistical sampling can be brought to bear to minimize the risk of failure of an emergency database restore.
2010-06-01
2,557 reads
Proxy accounts are a useful tool to enable teams to work independently allow users who do not have administrative access to SQL Server to run jobs.
2010-05-31
2,735 reads
Windows PowerShell v2 introduces self-contained “modules,” making it easier to share scripts with reusable functions, custom format views or type extensions.
2010-05-28
2,789 reads
In this workbench, Robyn Page provides a gentle introduction to the use of dates in SQL Server. In this new version of her article, it is brought up to date with the newer Datetime features in SQL Server 2005 and 2008.
2010-05-27
5,598 reads
In Part IV of the Geo-Spatial series, an interactive dashboard is developed to present and interact with the data.
2010-05-26
2,913 reads
Fabiano continues in his mission to describe the major Showplan Operators used by SQL Server's Query Optimiser. This week he meets a star, the Key Lookup, a stalwart performer, but most famous for its role in ill-performing queries where an index does not 'cover' the data required to execute the query. If you understand why, and in what circumstances, key lookups are slow, it helps greatly with optimising query performance.
2010-05-25
2,537 reads
Understanding how to analyze the characteristics of I/O patterns in the Microsoft® SQL Server® data management software and how they relate to a physical storage configuration is useful in determining deployment requirements for any given workload. A well-performing I/O subsystem is a critical component of any SQL Server application. I/O subsystems should be sized in the same manner as other hardware components such as memory and CPU. As workloads increase it is common to increase the number of CPUs and increase the amount of memory. Increasing disk resources is often necessary to achieve the right performance, even if there is already enough capacity to hold the data.
2010-05-24
2,944 reads
The NoSQL concept has been attracting a lot of attention in recent years, primarily due to big-name production implementations.
2010-05-21
8,007 reads
By Brian Kelley
There's a great article from MIT Technology Review about resetting on the hype of...
By Steve Jones
etherness – n. the wistful feeling of looking around a gathering of loved ones,...
By Steve Jones
A customer was asking about tracking logins and logouts in Redgate Monitor. We don’t...
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The Microsoft SQL Year in...
Comments posted to this topic are about the item T-SQL in SQL Server 2025:...
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What does this code return in SQL Server 2025+? (assume the database has an appropriate collation)
SELECT UNISTR('Hello 4E16754C') AS 'A Classic';
A: 
B: 
See possible answers