Stairway to SQL Server Automated Database Testing Level 1: Why You Need TDD
The first article in this Stairway Series makes the case for test-driven development.
2023-10-15 (first published: 2014-12-31)
11,618 reads
- Interests: SQL Server Performance and Code-Quality
Stairway to SQL Server Replication: Level 3 - Transactional Replication – The Publisher
The Publisher is the database where all
replicated data originates. Each Publisher can have multiple publications
defined within it. Each publication contains a set of articles that all need to
reside in a single database. Each article corresponds to all or part of a single
database object. A single database object can map to an article in more than one
publication.
2023-01-04 (first published: 2013-11-20)
12,391 reads
Stairway to SQL Server Replication: Level 2 - The Role of the Distributor
In this Stairway, Sebastian will be covering the details of SQL Server transactional and merge replication, from understanding the basic terminology and methodology of setting up replication, to describing how it works and how the basic replication processes can be monitored.
2022-12-28 (first published: 2013-11-13)
19,277 reads
Stairway to SQL Server Replication: Level 1 - Introduction to SQL Server Replication
In this Stairway, Sebastian will be covering the details of SQL Server transactional and merge replication, from understanding the basic terminology and methodology of setting up replication, to describing how it works and how the basic replication processes can be monitored.
2019-08-14 (first published: 2012-12-26)
38,401 reads
Stairway to SQL Server Replication: Level 4 - Transactional Replication – The Subscriber
The Subscriber is the server where all the changes that are published by replication get delivered to. Every publication needs to have at least one subscriber, but a publication can have many subscribers. This level assumes that you have followed the first three levels and that you have a publication set up, to which you can subscribe.
2013-12-11
15,599 reads
The Fundamentals of SQL Server Replication by Sebastian Meine
Many of my clients need to make data that lives on one server available on another server. There are many reasons for such a requirement. You might want to speed up cross-server queries by providing a local copy of the data. Or you might want to make the data available to resource intensive reporting queries without impacting the OLTP load, maybe even with an intentional delay so you're always reporting against complete days only. Finally, you might be looking to implement high availability. In all these situations, SQL Server Replication is a viable option to look at when planning for the implementation of such a requirement.
2013-09-30
6,758 reads
Stairway to SQL Server Replication - Level 10: Troubleshooting
The final level of this Stairway takes you through how to identify and fix common errors.
2012-04-18
15,097 reads
Stairway to SQL Server Replication - Level 9: The Replication Monitor
Introducing the replication monitor and how to use it to monitor replication health. It also introduces tracer tokens.
2012-03-21
9,952 reads
Stairway to SQL Server Replication - Level 8: Merge Replication – How it works
How merge replication works, including the impact on the published database. The merge agent, different conflict situations and their resolutions are introduced.
2012-03-02
11,154 reads
Stairway to SQL Server Replication - Level 7: Merge Replication – Subscription
This level of the Stairway will cover the details of SQL Server transactional and merge replication, from understanding the basic terminology and methodology of setting up replication, to describing how it works and how the basic replication processes can be monitored.
2012-02-03
7,428 reads
Blogs
Shifting Mindsets: Why FinOps is Essential for Cloud Efficiency
By HeyMo0sh
As a DevOps practitioner, I’ve always focused on performance, scalability, and automation. But as...
March 2026 SQL Server Security Updates
By Brian Kelley
On Patch Tuesday, in addition to OS and Office security patches, Microsoft also released...
How Fabric Mirroring Transformed with SQL Server 2025
When mirroring was first released for Azure SQL Database, it used Change Data Capture...
Forums
Multiple Deployment Processes
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Multiple Deployment Processes
How to Use sqlpackage to Detect Schema Drift Between Azure SQL Databases
Comments posted to this topic are about the item How to Use sqlpackage to...
Upgrading Admin Queries
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Upgrading Admin Queries
Question of the Day
Upgrading Admin Queries
I have a query from a former DBA that we run on SQL Server 2025 to check on database metadata. This query references sys.sysaltfiles. I want to refactor this code to be more modern. Which DMV should I reference instead?
See possible answers