An Alternative to SELECT COUNT(*) for Better Performance
Sometimes rapid code development doesn't always produce the most efficient code. Take the age old line of code SELECT COUNT(*)...
2013-05-07
5,283 reads
Patrick
- Twitter: @patrickkeisler
- Website: https://www.patrickkeisler.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickkeisler/
Merging SQL Server and Softball Just for Fun
With opening day of Major League Baseball season finally here, I thought I’d take the time to cover two of...
2013-04-02
1,279 reads
Use Powershell to Pick Up what Database Mirroring Leaves Behind
Database mirroring has been around since SQL Server 2005, and it's turned out to be an excellent step up from...
2013-03-26
2,448 reads
T-SQL Tuesday #40 - Proportional Fill within a Filegroup
T-SQL Tuesday #40 is underway, and this month's host is Jennifer McCown (blog|twitter). The topic is about File and Filegroup...
2013-03-15 (first published: 2013-03-12)
2,889 reads
Dealing with a Fragmented Heap
Just for the record, this happens to be one of my favorite interview questions to ask candidates.
At some point in...
2013-03-05
2,330 reads
The Performance Impact to Prefix Stored Procedures with sp_
Last week I ran across a blog post by Axel Achten (B|T) that outlined a few reasons why you should...
2013-02-19
1,457 reads
What is DBCC SHOW_STATISTICS Telling Me About My Data?
Per Books Online, DBCC SHOW_STATISTICS displays current query optimization statistics for a table or indexed view. Basically it shows you...
2013-02-14 (first published: 2013-02-05)
5,474 reads
T-SQL Tuesday - Use Powershell to Restore a Database on a Different Server
T-SQL Tuesday - This month's party is hosted by Wayne Sheffield (blog|twitter), and the topic is about Powershell and how to use...
2013-02-12
8,150 reads
How to Remove (Undo) Table Partitioning
I have seen plenty of articles and blog posts out there for how to setup and implement table partitioning, but...
2013-02-04 (first published: 2013-01-29)
8,708 reads
sp_PerformanceCounters - Get a Health Check of SQL Server's Performance
During your career as a DBA, you'll run across articles by SQL experts or other DBAs that just give you...
2013-01-22
1,345 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