A New Word: Dolorblindness

dolorblindness – n. the frustration that you’ll never be able to understand another person’s pain, only ever searching their face for some faint evocation of it, then rifling through...

Advice I Like: Ranch Rules

Leave a gate behind you the way you first found it. – from Excellent Advice for Living This is a ranch rule. Leave something as you found it. If...

How Database Professionals Sent a Million Emails a Day from SQL Server

This is part of a look back at the history of SQL Server Central as a part of our 25-year celebration in Feb 2026. "They want how much?" That was a question I got from Andy one afternoon as we discussed how we were going to manage the growth of SQL Server Central. I had […]

The String Distance I

When SQL Server Central Went Down

Today Steve reminisces on the early days of SQL Server Central.

Claude Code Helps Analyze Test Data Manager Log Files

I had a customer ask about analyzing their Test Data Manager (TDM) usage to determine how many people were protecting data in dev databases and how often. TDM creates...

Tame Those Strings Part 6 - Bending Results

Continuing with Steve Jones series on string manipulation, this article looks at an interesting facet of the SELECT operator.

Tame Those Strings Part 8 - Quoting

Continuing Steve Jones' series on string manipulation in T-SQL, this article examines how quotations are handled in T-SQL.

Tame Those Strings Part 9 - Dynamic SQL

Steve Jones continues his series on string manipulation. This articles examines the issues of quotes when implementing dynamic SQL.

Tools You Need

This Friday Steve Jones asks what tools does a DBA really need to do his or her job?