Start 2012 with Your Best of 2011

The first week following on from the Christmas break is a very hectic one for us Data Professionals.
Your customers are...

Windows OS Information from SQL Server

I ran across a thread recently where someone was asking how to get the Windows start time from within SQL...

How to change the database collation

To change the collation of an database following commands can be used:

ALTER DATABASE [database name] SET SINGLE_USER WITH ROLLBACK IMMEDIATE
ALTER DATABASE  [database name]  COLLATE Newcollation
ALTER DATABASE  [database name]  SET MULTI_USER

For example , suppose if the name...

How to remane a Table in Sql Server

To rename a column in a SQL Table following command can be reused:
SP_RENAME  'old table name', 'New table name'

For example,...

January 2012 – Monthly SQL Server Checklist

It’s the first Monday of January and for most of us it’s probably a vacation day.  No fear, you can...

Pro and Cons of Parameter Sniffing

Look at the following 3 scripts:
-- 1. Hardcoded
SELECT
*
FROM
Sales.Orders
WHERE
DateAndTime < '19900101'

-- 2. Variable
DECLARE @FilterDate DATETIME = '19900101'
SELECT
*
FROM
Sales.Orders
WHERE
DateAndTime...

Renewed as MVP for SQL Server

I have been renewed as an MVP for SQL Server. This is my 4th award. It's humbling to receive the...

Review of my blog posts in 2011

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:
The concert hall at the Syndey...

SQL Index Fragmentation and sys.dm_db_index_physical_stats

Fragmentation of an index can severely affect performance. When logical ordering of the key within a page does not match...

SQL Server A to Z – YEAR

SELECT 'Happy '+ DATENAME(dw, GETDATE())Welcome to the penultimate installment of SQL Server A to Z (it’s not often I get to...