Degrees and Trade Schools
Can we normalize a couple of things? 1 – Trade Schools. Back in the 80’s trade classes in high school and post high school were frowned upon, or looked...
2024-05-08
28 reads
Kevin3NF
- Interests: Cycling, family, sci-fi, DBA stuff
Set-Based vs Row-Based Database Code
In SQL Server, the terms “set-based” and “row-based” refer to different approaches or styles of writing SQL code to manipulate data. These styles have implications for performance, readability, and...
2023-12-18 (first published: 2023-12-01)
602 reads
Database Concerns – A Poll!
What are you most concerned about in your database platforms? Please pick from the list below, and expand on your choice in the comments if you like: Thanks...
2023-11-08 (first published: 2023-10-25)
219 reads
SQL Server Backups are Not a High-Availability Solution
Please continue doing your backups! Backups are Disaster Recovery, yes…but not HA. Some will argue with this (in the comments most likely), but I broadly define “High Availability” as...
2023-11-01 (first published: 2023-10-17)
331 reads
IRL #8: SQL Server Down
Problem: My PocketDBA® client called in with a non-responsive SQL Server. Application errors, timeout, alerts firing. SQL Server box is up, and the services are running. Background: This is...
2023-09-06
34 reads
SQL Server is not a Car
Lets compare them anyway, just for fun. Both have an engine Both have a monitoring device (Dashboard/Activity Monitor) Both need power (Gas/Electricity) Both need to be told what do...
2023-09-05
36 reads
Reflections on the Software Industry
Every now and then we like to have someone do a guest post, with a topic of their own choosing. This time, we picked Kevin Miller (LI). Kevin is...
2023-08-21 (first published: 2023-08-01)
171 reads
Test Restore Your SQL Server Databases
Pain Point: Something bad happened and you need to restore a SQL Server database. Pain Point you didn’t know you had: The backup files are all corrupt due a...
2023-07-25
296 reads
Storytelling for DBAs and Other Technical Folk
(for your reading pleasure, written by Jules. –ed) We have all had that sinking feeling of defeat: you’ve just finished explaining a very important and highly technical thing to...
2023-07-05 (first published: 2023-06-20)
408 reads
Code That Writes Code
“Work Smarter, not Harder” We’ve all heard it before, pretty much any job, anywhere. In our DBA slice of the IT world, this is very relevant to how we...
2023-05-08 (first published: 2023-04-28)
510 reads
Blogs
Advice I Like: Pyramid Schemes
By Steve Jones
If someone is trying to convince you it’s not a pyramid scheme, it’s a...
Using Prompt AI for a Travel Data Analysis
By Steve Jones
I was looking back at my year and decided to see if SQL Prompt...
FinOps for Kubernetes: Leveraging OpenCost, KubeGreen, and Kubecost for Cost Efficiency
In the era of cloud-native applications, Kubernetes has become the default standard platform for...
Forums
Database file shrink issue.
Hi experts, I have a 3+ TB database on a 2019 sql server which...
The North Star for the Year
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The North Star for the...
Multiple Escape Characters
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Multiple Escape Characters
Question of the Day
Multiple Escape Characters
In SQL Server 2025, I run this code (in a database with the appropriate collation):
SELECT UNISTR('%*3041%*308A%*304C%*3068 and good night', '%*') AS 'A Classic';
What is returned? See possible answers