Getting a query plan
Query plans are an essential tool when doing performance tuning. When looking at a query plan you should be aware...
2014-02-19
1,482 reads
Kenneth Fisher
T-SQL Tuesday #51: Doubledown disaster
Jason Brimhall is hosting the 51st T-SQL Tuesday this month with “Place your bets!.
It’s always a gamble when buying a...
2014-02-14 (first published: 2014-02-11)
1,577 reads
Transactions: What commands aren’t allowed?
Transactions are great tools that every DBA and developer should learn how to use. Unfortunately not everything can be put...
2014-02-13 (first published: 2014-02-05)
4,553 reads
Check your SQL Agent history settings before it’s too late!
A little while back I was doing some research into a failed job and ran into a slight problem. The...
2014-02-10
894 reads
Negative session_ids
I probably had the most fun all week when a query I was running came up blocked. Sounds strange right?...
2014-02-03 (first published: 2014-01-27)
2,169 reads
Transactions: Creating a single restore point across multiple databases.
This is a disaster and recovery trick I’ve found to be useful for developers with batch processes that hit multiple...
2014-02-02
1,361 reads
Using sys.dm_exec_sql_text() to figure out blocking is sometimes flawed.
I frequently rely on joining sys.dm_exec_requests and sys.dm_exec_sql_text() to know what queries are running on a system and when I...
2014-01-29
1,177 reads
Transactions: Who, What and Where
Recently we had a scenario where we had a handful of queries being blocked. Nothing unusual there but when I...
2014-01-23 (first published: 2014-01-20)
3,293 reads
The “most_recent_sql_handle” column
While researching my last post I ran across an interesting column I hadn’t noticed before, sys.dm_exec_connections.most_recent_sql_handle. I mentioned it in...
2014-01-22
1,079 reads
Guid vs Identity columns (Ints)
I came across an interesting question on SE last week. Guid vs INT – Which is better as a primary key?...
2014-01-20 (first published: 2014-01-13)
4,714 reads
Blogs
Resetting on the AI hype train
By Brian Kelley
There's a great article from MIT Technology Review about resetting on the hype of...
A New Word: Etherness
By Steve Jones
etherness – n. the wistful feeling of looking around a gathering of loved ones,...
Vibe Coding a Login Tracking System
By Steve Jones
A customer was asking about tracking logins and logouts in Redgate Monitor. We don’t...
Forums
The Microsoft SQL Year in Review
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The Microsoft SQL Year in...
T-SQL in SQL Server 2025: The || Operator
Comments posted to this topic are about the item T-SQL in SQL Server 2025:...
Your Value from a Conference
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Your Value from a Conference
Question of the Day
UNISTR Basics
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