Quick tip: WMI alerts and SQL Server Agent permissions.
I came across an issue today while trying to create a WMI alert for a mirroring state change. The error...
2013-08-15
1,593 reads
Matt
In Memory OLTP with SQL Server 2014
SQL Server 2014 CTP is available for download and evaluation and it contains a couple of exciting performance enhancements. One...
2013-07-08
2,535 reads
Wildcards and Indexes
I was asked a good question the other day, one that I wasn’t sure of the answer. The question was...
2013-05-22
1,609 reads
Quick tip: Using sp_server_diagnostics
In SQL Server 2012 a new procedure sp_server_diagnostics returns a payload of information about server health and performance. The sproc...
2013-04-11 (first published: 2013-04-03)
4,060 reads
SQL Server 2008 Statistics: What does a DBA need to know?
I’ve been looking into the behaviour of statistics in SQL Server 2008 – so I’d like to present an overview from...
2013-02-20 (first published: 2013-02-14)
7,082 reads
Restore database permissions
Introduction:
I came across a couple of subtle gotchas around the permissions required to restore a database in SQL Server 2008+...
2013-01-10
6,126 reads
Migrating SQL Server Databases that use Database Master Keys
There’s a lot of things to consider when migrating databases between SQL Server instances. I want to provide some tips...
2012-11-26 (first published: 2012-11-13)
4,358 reads
Don’t believe everything you read: Truncate table is not logged
Actually I’m not sure if anyone still believes this anymore. If you read the BOL description carefully it states that...
2012-11-02 (first published: 2012-10-31)
4,425 reads
Quick tip: Count table rows in a database, and locate those rows in the data files.
Here are a couple of quick database and table level queries that I have found useful lately.
How many rows in...
2012-10-30
1,617 reads
Querying database usage
A question that a DBA will often be asked is what databases are actively being used on my SQL Server?...
2012-10-17
3,357 reads
Blogs
Don’t Miss Out – SQL Server Query Tuning Fundamentals Starts Next Monday!
Next Monday, February 9, 2026, my one-day live online training SQL Server Query Tuning...
Monday Monitor Tips: SQL Auditing Preview
By Steve Jones
One of the features we advocates have been advocating for is a better way...
SQL Server 2025 CU1 Fixes the Docker Desktop AVX Issue on macOS
Microsoft fixed the AVX instruction issue in SQL Server 2025 CU1. The container now...
Forums
25 Years of SQL Server Central
Comments posted to this topic are about the item 25 Years of SQL Server...
The Decoded Value
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The Decoded Value
Deploying SQL Server Developer Edition in Kubernetes: A Cost-Effective Alternative to RDS
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Deploying SQL Server Developer Edition...
Question of the Day
The Decoded Value
In SQL Server 2025, what is returned from this code:
DECLARE @message VARCHAR(50) = 'Hello SQL Server 2025!'; DECLARE @encoded VARCHAR(MAX); SET @encoded = BASE64_ENCODE(CAST(@message AS VARBINARY(1000))); SELECT BASE64_DECODE(@encoded)See possible answers