SELECT *
SELECT * feels convenient, but in SQL Server it bloats I/O, burns network bandwidth, blocks covering-index usage, and makes code brittle when schemas change. Specify only the columns you...
2025-10-02
39 reads
Blog Posts
The CDO’s Playbook for AI Driven Decision Making
The New Arena of Leadership The role of the Chief Data Officer is no longer about governance alone. It is about vision. It is about turning data into the...
2025-10-02
17 reads
AI Model Size, Parameters and Download
At SQL Saturday Boston 2025, I gave a presentation on local LLMs and there was a great question that I wasn’t sure about. Someone asked about the download size...
2025-10-01
41 reads
Modify Power BI page visibility and active status with Semantic Link Labs
Setting page visibility and the active page are often overlooked last steps when publishing a Power BI report. It’s easy to forget the active page since it’s just set...
2025-10-01 (first published: 2025-09-09)
173 reads
New AI capabilities in SQL Server 2025
(Side note: Excited to share that the audio version of my book “Deciphering Data Architectures: Choosing Between a Modern Data Warehouse, Data Fabric, Data Lakehouse, and Data Mesh” is...
2025-10-01 (first published: 2025-09-09)
759 reads
SplashFlag - Building an IoT Swimming Notification Device from Scratch
After setting up dozens of Internet of Things (IoT) smart home devices, I started to wonder: how hard could it be to build one from scratch?
I needed a project...
2025-10-01
17 reads
Expanding Your DBA Horizons: Installing PostgreSQL in a Home Lab
Are you diversifying your DBA skillset? My recent job search made one thing clear: the database landscape is broader than just SQL Server and Oracle. More and more companies...
2025-09-30
138 reads
Back in the EU
I flew to Amsterdam last night and hopefully by the time this publishes I’ll be at my hotel, catching up on messages and prepping for another Simple Talk Podcast...
2025-09-29
17 reads
Demystifying Fabric Workspaces: The Nerve Center of Your Data Universe
It always starts the same way. You open your laptop on a Monday morning, coffee in hand, ready to tackle the week, only to spend the first hour hunting...
2025-09-29 (first published: 2025-09-04)
289 reads
Managing Enterprise Storage with Pure Storage Fusion in PowerShell - Building Storage Tiers
In modern IT environments, not all workloads require the same level of storage performance, protection, or cost. Some applications need high performance with aggressive data protection, while others are...
2025-09-29 (first published: 2025-09-04)
141 reads
Blogs
Five Ways Redshift Serverless Quietly Eats Your Budget
It is Friday, the queries are running, and nobody is watching the bill. That...
A Career of Memories
By Steve Jones
Annabel retired from Redgate Software this week. Across most of my career at Redgate,...
Rethinking Index Maintenance: Why avg_fragmentation_in_percent Is Outdated and What You Should Do Instead
By Tim Radney
As a SQL Server DBA with years of experience tuning production environments, I’ve seen...
Forums
Changes, Happiness, and a Few Tears
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Changes, Happiness, and a Few...
BCP on Linux
Comments posted to this topic are about the item BCP on Linux
You Probably Don't Need a Vector Database
Comments posted to this topic are about the item You Probably Don't Need a...
Question of the Day
BCP on Linux
When running bcp on Linux, what is the field terminator?
See possible answers