Kenneth Fisher

My name is Kenneth Fisher and I am Senior DBA for a large (multi-national) insurance company. I have been working with databases for over 20 years starting with Clarion and Foxpro. I’ve been working with SQL Server for 12 years but have only really started “studying” the subject for the last 3. I don’t have any real "specialities" but I enjoy trouble shooting and teaching. Thus far I’ve earned by MCITP Database Administrator 2008, MCTS Database Administrator 2005, and MCTS Database Developer 2008. I’m currently studying for my MCITP Database Developer 2008 and should start in on the 2012 exams next year. My blog is at https://sqlstudies.com/.

Physical Join Operators by Ami Levin

by Kenneth Fisher

SQLStudies

For those who don’t know the three physical join operators are Hash Match, Loop Join and Nested Loops. Understanding these...

2013-11-06

682 reads

Adding a column to a table with a default (NULL vs NOT NULL)

by Kenneth Fisher

SQLStudies

There are lots of ways to learn new things, or be reminded of old things. One of my favorites is...

2013-11-05 (first published: 2013-10-30)

5,176 reads

A look at comments

by Kenneth Fisher

SQLStudies

Everyone knows that we should include comments in our code right? On the other hand the vast majority of us...

2013-10-29 (first published: 2013-10-21)

1,752 reads

Change in SQL 2012 SSMS grid output behavior

by Kenneth Fisher

SQLStudies

It’s one of those things that always aggravated me but not really enough to complain about. When you run a...

2013-10-28

702 reads

Unexpected truncation in FETCH

by Kenneth Fisher

SQLStudies

Yes I’m talking about FETCH as in a cursor, yes everyone hates cursors. But you know cursors are like anything...

2013-10-23

727 reads

I’ve refreshed a test database from prod but now the users can’t access it.

by Kenneth Fisher

SQLStudies

This happens to me all the time. I get a request from a developer to overwrite the test copy of...

2013-10-16 (first published: 2013-10-09)

2,668 reads

Query to compare indexes between two tables

by Kenneth Fisher

SQLStudies

We have a set of databases at my office that use the load and swap method of loading data with...

2013-10-16

1,206 reads

Why you should know how to script as well as use the GUI

by Kenneth Fisher

SQLStudies

Personally I’ve always enjoyed learning the T-SQL for any given task. The GUI is usually pretty easy to figure out...

2013-10-14

1,013 reads

Use TOP instead of SET ROWCOUNT

by Kenneth Fisher

SQLStudies

Both TOP and SET ROWCOUNT are both valid methods of limiting the result sets from a query. They are however...

2013-10-10 (first published: 2013-10-07)

3,982 reads

T-SQL Tuesday #47: Your Best SQL Server SWAG

by Kenneth Fisher

SQLStudies

It’s time for T-SQL Tuesday again and this time Kendal Van Dyke is asking for Your Best SQL Server SWAG....

2013-10-08

756 reads

Blogs

Power BI Performance in 2026: A Practical Guide to Faster Semantic Models and Reports

Originally published April 2022; substantially updated July 2026. This post is a complete replacement...

Getting Started with Azure SQL Developer on Macbook

By MarlonRibunal

The idea behind Azure SQL Developer is for anyone to build, iterate, and test...

AI Experiments: Claude Solved a DAB Issue

I’m sure many of you are using AI regularly, perhaps chatting, perhaps using some...

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Forums

Can You Really Downgrade from Enterprise to Standard and Save Thousands? Here's What Happened

By Pablo Echeverria

Comments posted to this topic are about the item Can You Really Downgrade from...

What is CPU Usage?

By Steve Jones - SSC Editor

Comments posted to this topic are about the item What is CPU Usage?

Limiting Checkpoints

By Steve Jones - SSC Editor

Comments posted to this topic are about the item Limiting Checkpoints

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Question of the Day

Limiting Checkpoints

If I use the -k parameter with a number after it, what does this change in SQL Server?

See possible answers