MySQL’s BLACKHOLE Storage Engine: The Odd Feature I Wish SQL Server Shipped With
Learn about a MySQL feature that could be useful in some scenarios for SQL Server.
2025-11-10
4,076 reads
Learn about a MySQL feature that could be useful in some scenarios for SQL Server.
2025-11-10
4,076 reads
Learn about how the Log Service helps manage transactions in the Hyperscale Tier.
2025-10-29
1,003 reads
Learn about implicit transaction and why you might not want to enable this setting.
2025-10-24
5,982 reads
In this level of the Stairway to Azure SQL Hyperscale we learn about the read-only layer that speeds up queries.
2025-10-08
365 reads
Learn how a setting an improve high concurrency inserts with the OPTIMIZE_FOR_SEQUENTIAL_KEY option.
2025-10-01
5,171 reads
Learn how a trace flag affects SQL Server reading from disk and where this might be a useful thing for you to enable.
2025-09-24
2,392 reads
In Level 2 of the Stairway to Hyperscale, we learn about Page Servers in more detail.
2025-09-17
713 reads
A look at window functions in SQL and how they can be used to query data without the restrictions of a GROUP BY.
2025-09-12
6,520 reads
In Level 1 of the Stairway to Azure SQL Hyperscale, we learn about the architecture and create a hyperscale instance.
2025-09-03
3,257 reads
Page splits are an often-overlooked performance killer in SQL Server. In this article, we take a forensic look at how serial inserts differ from mid-table inserts, revealing why inserting rows out of order causes hidden page splits, increased IO, and fragmentation. Using a wide-column table, we demonstrate both scenarios and decode their impact with page-level analysis.
2025-09-02 (first published: 2025-08-05)
2,421 reads
By Steve Jones
I wrote a piece on the new SUBSTRING in SQL Server 2025 and got...
By Steve Jones
If you aren’t watching the Ignite keynotes today, then you might have missed the...
Short version You want to get this running as fast as possible. Do these...
I changed my email address in Edit Profile page, but it has no effect...
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The case for "Understanding our...
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Specifying the Collation
I am dealing with issues on my SQL Server 2022 instance related to collation. I have an instance collation of Latin1_General_CS_AS_KS_WS, but a database collation of Latin1_General_CI_AS. I want to force a few queries to run with a specified collation by using code like this:
DECLARE @c VARCHAR(20) = 'Latin1_General_CI_AS'
SELECT p.PersonType,
p.Title,
p.LastName,
c.CustomerID,
c.AccountNumber
FROM Person.Person AS p
INNER JOIN Sales.Customer AS c
ON c.PersonID = p.BusinessEntityID
COLLATE @c
Will this solve my problem? See possible answers