Three SQL Server MVPs, and stalwarts of the SQLServerCentral and MSDN community forums, provide fascinating insight into the most common SQL Server problems, why they occur, and how they can be diagnosed using tools such as Performance Monitor, Dynamic Management Views and server-side tracing. The focus is on practical solutions for removing root causes of these problems, rather than "papering over the cracks".
2014-11-11
25,902 reads
Learn how to use SQLCLR to get file system information instead of using xp_cmdshell on your SQL Servers.
2013-11-22 (first published: 2009-02-05)
34,920 reads
As discussed in my previous Getting Started with SQL Server Event Notifications article, SQL Server Event Notifications allow us to capture and handle events that occur inside the SQL Server database engine. Event Notifications execute for DDL Events and Trace Events and we can use to capture information about the event that fired, and automate […]
2012-11-06
9,063 reads
The aim of the new Database Recovery Advisor in SQL Server 2012 is to simplify the task of piecing together a recovery sequence from multiple backup files, comprising full, differential, and log backups. In this article, I'll demonstrate how the tool makes it easier to plan for, and perform, a point in time recovery from a series of backups, in order to recover data that may have been lost due to an application bug, or user error.
2012-07-13
2,634 reads
Occasionally, a DBA may need to restore a database from a multiple backup files that originated from multiple servers. This requirement might arise, for example, in a database-mirroring configuration, where backups may be from either of the servers.
2012-06-27
2,950 reads
Three SQL Server MVPs, and stalwarts of the SQLServerCentral and MSDN community forums, provide fascinating insight into the most common SQL Server problems, why they occur, and how they can be diagnosed using tools such as Performance Monitor, Dynamic Management Views and server-side tracing. The focus is on practical solutions for removing root causes of these problems, rather than "papering over the cracks".
2011-09-29
25,028 reads
Learn how SQLCLR can be used to replace BCP and xp_cmdshell to export data to comma separated and tab delimited flat files.
2011-05-06 (first published: 2009-03-03)
19,795 reads
Learn why ALTER DATABASE should be preferred over Detach/Attach for moving database files on the same SQL Server from MVP Jonathan Kehayias.
2010-09-24 (first published: 2009-05-27)
31,692 reads
MVP Jonathan Kehayias brings us a short article on how to troubleshoot deadlocks in SQL Server.
2010-06-04 (first published: 2009-02-02)
42,120 reads
Learn the basics of Event Notifications from MVP Jonathan Kehayia. This article will show you how to create customized responses to events in SQL Server 2005/2008.
2009-12-22
24,819 reads
By Steve Jones
I had an idea for an animated view of a sales tool, and started...
Next Monday, February 9, 2026, my one-day live online training SQL Server Query Tuning...
By Steve Jones
One of the features we advocates have been advocating for is a better way...
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Level 28: DAX Text Functions:...
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Creating JSON I
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Expensive CPUs
On SQL Server 2025, what happens when I run this code:
SELECT JSON_OBJECTAGG( 'City':'Denver') GOSee possible answers