Oracle treats most DDL as auto-committing, meaning once it executes, it's done. SQL Server, however, blurs that line in fascinating ways, allowing some DDL operations to be part of an explicit transaction.
2025-07-23
92 reads
The data professional’s world is changing and I know you hear this from me in editorials, blogs posts and social media, but it’s the truth. With the rise of Microsoft Fabric, we’re not just seeing another platform shift; we’re witnessing a redefinition of how data is valued, governed, and protected across the enterprise. Fabric isn’t […]
2025-07-22
226 reads
Working across Oracle, SQL Server, PostgreSQL, and MySQL, I've learned that the real challenge isn’t just knowing each platform, but understanding the subtle differences in terminology, syntax, and mindset, and staying open to learning on the fly every time I jump in. The “Sacred Six” are rules that I’ve learned to live by and accept. […]
2025-07-12
76 reads
If you’ve ever had to format dates and times in SQL, you’ve probably come across one of the most jarring realities of working across platforms: every major RDBMS does it differently and sometimes confusingly. What’s a TO_CHAR() in Oracle becomes FORMAT() or CONVERT() in SQL Server, and its sort of the same in PostgreSQL… but […]
2025-07-11
165 reads
There’s a moment I experience all too often in tech meetings, presentations, or vendor demos where someone starts talking, and instead of clarity, I get hit with a tidal wave of jargon: “synergizing AI-driven orchestration pipelines for real-time actionable insights using cloud-native microservices and agentic AI to serve as a digital twin.” And somewhere in […]
2025-07-09
126 reads
Sometimes, while working on something as foundational as SQL Server Central, (which is a temporary responsibility for Grant, John and I while Steve is on sabbatical) I catch myself falling into an old, familiar loop double-checking my choices, second-guessing even the most minor decisions, as is the norm for anyone who’s a database administrator (or […]
2025-07-08
159 reads
There is something magical about SQLBits. Whether it is the technical sessions, the sense of community and fun, or the relentless commitment to learning about the latest innovation, this event continues to serve as a pulse check for where data is today and where it’s going tomorrow. This year’s SQLBits at the ExCel in London […]
2025-06-21
49 reads
As someone who has had the honor of delivering keynotes at both Oracle and SQL Saturday data events, I’ve spent time with professionals on both sides of the database world. I’ve held the title of database administrator, developer, engineer and architect for structured, transactional giants and the analytics-heavy ecosystems of eight different database platforms, (not […]
2025-05-17
84 reads
Last week, I had the chance to speak at two very different events, and the contrast between them really stuck with me. The first was all a traditional vendor conference- enterprise-level, built around a well-established product with over 40 years of vendor-driven development. Think polished sponsor tables, polished shoes, and more than a few suits […]
2025-04-12
64 reads
CSO recently published an article based on a report from Harmonic about generative AI data leaks, and the findings were eye-opening. According to the report, over 8% of employee prompts to public large language models (LLMs) contained sensitive data, ranging from security and compliance issues to privacy and legal vulnerabilities. This wasn’t just a handful […]
2025-03-08
144 reads
By Kevin3NF
Don’t Let Trouble Sneak Up on You Most SQL Servers run quietly. Until...
By Steve Jones
I had a conversation with a customer asking this question: how can I tell...
By Chris Yates
There was a time when the Chief Data Officer lived in the shadows of...
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Create an HTML Report on...
Hi I have a SP that occasionally get this error: Cannot resolve the collation...
Hi everyone I am getting an error when I create the index but I...
I have two calls to the GENERATE_SERIES TVF in this code:
SELECT TOP 10 gs.value FROM GENERATE_SERIES(1, 10) AS gs ORDER BY NEWID () OPTION (RECOMPILE); go DECLARE @a int = 10; SELECT TOP (@a) gs.value FROM GENERATE_SERIES(1, @a) AS gs ORDER BY NEWID () OPTION (RECOMPILE);In the actual query plans, what is the estimated number of rows for each batch in SQL Server 2022? See possible answers