The End of Year Vacation Burn
It’s been a good year for me. With my sabbatical, I felt like I’ve gotten away from work quite a bit this year. I’ve had a few vacations around...
2025-10-20
16 reads
Blog Posts
Announcements from the Microsoft Fabric Community Conference
A bunch of new features for Microsoft Fabric were announced at the Microsoft Fabric Community Conference (FabCon Vienna) recently. Here are all the new features that I found most interesting, with...
2025-10-17 (first published: 2025-09-24)
1,603 reads
The Book of Redgate: Don’t be an a**hole
This was one of the original values: The facing page has this text: No matter how smart you are, or how good you are at narrowly defined tasks, there...
2025-10-17
169 reads
The Challenge of Implicit Transactions: #SQLNewBlogger
I saw an article recently about implicit transactions and coincidentally, I had a friend get caught by this. A quick post to show the impact of this setting. Another...
2025-10-17 (first published: 2025-09-24)
306 reads
A Broken Copilot Query
I was testing the new SSMS (v22 Preview 3) with Copilot and ran into an interesting issue. This is part of a series of experiments with AI systems. My...
2025-10-16
151 reads
Set Theory vs. Batch Mode in SQL Server
Set Theory vs. Batch Mode in SQL Server
Not long ago, a colleague of mine was completely shocked when he first heard about SQL Server’s Batch Mode feature. His immediate...
2025-10-15 (first published: 2025-09-23)
578 reads
The Mystery of the Locked-Up Database -Scooby Dooing Episode 6
No Scooby-Doo story is complete without footprints leading to a hidden passage. In SQL Server 2025, those footprints point us straight toward the next big feature: optimized locking. And...
2025-10-15 (first published: 2025-09-24)
1,433 reads
From Data Custodian to Innovation Catalyst: The Evolving Role of the CDO
There was a time when the Chief Data Officer lived in the shadows of the enterprise. Their office lights burned late into the night as they combed through spreadsheets...
2025-10-14
13 reads
Accelerating AI with Confidence: Why Microsoft Purview is Key to Responsible Innovation
Artificial intelligence is no longer a distant concept. It is here, embedded in the way we work, create, and make decisions. From generative assistants to predictive analytics, AI is...
2025-10-13 (first published: 2025-09-18)
337 reads
Troubleshooting TempDB Log Full Errors When SSMS Won’t Connect
Have you ever received the dreaded error from SQL Server that the TempDB log file is full? Only to open SSMS and be greeted with a message that prevents...
2025-10-13 (first published: 2025-09-18)
605 reads
Blogs
RANK() vs DENSE_RANK(): #SQLNewBlogger
By Steve Jones
I haven’t done one of these in awhile, but I saw an article recently...
Using CAT for Testing of Data Agents
In last months one of the scenarios where you can use AI has been...
Forums
Missing the Jaro Winkler Distance
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25 Years Later: What SQLServerCentral Meant to Me
Comments posted to this topic are about the item 25 Years Later: What SQLServerCentral...
Doing Good at SQL Server Central
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Doing Good at SQL Server...
Question of the Day
Missing the Jaro Winkler Distance
I upgraded a SQL Server 2019 instance to SQL Server 2025. I wanted to test the fuzzy string search functions. I run this code:
SELECT JARO_WINKLER_DISTANCE('tim', 'tom')
I get this error message:Msg 195, Level 15, State 10, Line 1 'JARO_WINKLER_DISTANCE' is not a recognized built-in function name.What is wrong? See possible answers