Sampling Distribution and Central Limit Theorem

In this post am going to explain (in highly simplified terms) two very important statistical concepts – the sampling distribution and central...

Test the SQL Server database collation with PowerShell and dbatools

If your server collation is different to your database collation then you may find that you get an error similar...

Tuga IT 2017 Tickets are on sale

I am glad to announce thatTuga IT 2017 Tickets are finally on sale!

Wait a second, you might think – on sale?...

Understanding Keys and Certificates with Always Encrypted

This post attempts to explain in simple terms what keys are involved in Always Encrypted, how they get used, and the implications of those facts.

What Is SQL Saturday?

I was recently approached and asked, “What is SQL Saturday? I actually get asked that question more times than not...

Can I tune the tempDB of an Azure based SQL Server database…

Yip. You can.
I was originally going to write this post about tuning tempDB in our Azure SQL database. Which would...

Custom Handling Flat File Output of an SSIS Package with the Script Component

I recently had a requirement to remove the last Carriage Return <CR> and Line Feed <LF> characters when outputting a...

April Fools 2017

Each year I try to something fun for April 1st, though it’s hard to do well. Trying to be funny...

Columnstore Indexes – part 101 (“Estimated? Similar! Similar How?”)

Continuation from the previous 100 parts, the whole series can be found at http://www.nikoport.com/columnstore/.
This blogpost will focus on warning you...

How to grow the exposure of a Data Platform based conference (SQL Saturday South Island)

SQL Saturday conferences are awesome.
That is the opening line of this blog post – because it’s true and understated.
If you’re reading...