Sabbatical 3 Review
I’m back. My last day of work was Jun 27 and I came back a few days ago, on Aug 13. Just over six weeks away and I am...
2025-08-15
18 reads
Blog Posts
SQL Server Maintenance Plans
If you’re a DBA, sysadmin, IT manager, or Accidental DBA, you’ve probably seen SQL Server’s built-in Maintenance Plans. They live right there in SSMS under the “Management” node, quietly...
2025-08-15 (first published: 2025-07-30)
439 reads
SQL Server Migration Made Easy: A Complete Guide to Microsoft DMA and Its Successors
Migrating SQL Server databases is a critical task for IT teams aiming to modernize infrastructure, improve performance, or transition to cloud platforms. One of the most widely used tools...
2025-08-15 (first published: 2025-07-30)
355 reads
Getting Started with Microsoft Fabric: Why It Matters and What You Gain
In today’s data-driven world, organizations are constantly seeking ways to simplify their analytics stack, unify fragmented tools, and unlock real-time insights. Enter Microsoft Fabric, a cloud-native, AI-powered data platform...
2025-08-14
202 reads
Managing Enterprise Storage with Pure Storage Fusion in PowerShell
When managing storage infrastructure at scale, one of the most powerful approaches is treating related storage resources as cohesive Workloads rather than individual components. This becomes especially important when...
2025-08-14
27 reads
SQL Server Management Studio uses the Visual Studio installer
Yes, SSMS 21 uses the Visual Studio installer. No, you don’t need to download it every time. No, you don’t need a Visual Studio license to use it.
The post...
2025-08-14
36 reads
DBCC CHECKDB: Just Because It’s Quiet Doesn’t Mean It’s Safe
Corruption isn’t a “maybe someday” problem – what you need to do now. Stop. Don’t panic. You just ran DBCC CHECKDB for the first time in a while (or...
2025-08-13
25 reads
From AI to JSON: What’s New in SQL Server 2025 Data Types (With Scripts)
🚀 Introduction SQL Server 2025 is a landmark release that redefines how developers and data professionals interact with data. With the rise of AI, unstructured data, and real-time analytics,...
2025-08-13 (first published: 2025-07-29)
1,935 reads
SQL Server 2025 Backups - New ZSTD Compression
Compression was introduced in SQL Server version 2008. While it helped, the compression ratios were frequently too low to justify the...
2025-08-13
7 reads
SQL Server 2025: Not Just a Database; A Data Engine Reimagined
Let us be honest; most database upgrades feel like a patchwork of performance tweaks and security updates. But SQL Server 2025? It is not just an upgrade. It is...
2025-08-13 (first published: 2025-07-29)
2,618 reads
Blogs
Microsoft Build 2026 announcements
By James Serra
Once again there were a number of Microsoft Build announcements related to data and...
T-SQL Tuesday #199: Roundup
A good week ago I hosted the monthly T-SQL Tuesday blog party. I invited...
No Shortcuts for the SQLCMD Batch Terminator: #SQLNewBlogger
By Steve Jones
I was messing around with SQLCMD and I realized something I hadn’t known. I’ve...
Forums
Increment a number in a SQL Query based on a value
I have an issue where I have a Bill of Material list of items...
Follow Your Hunch
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Follow Your Hunch
What Happens When You Ask a Local AI to Query Your Database?
Comments posted to this topic are about the item What Happens When You Ask...
Question of the Day
Detecting Characters
I have a SQL Server 2022 English default installation on a server. I want to detect if there are any upper case characters in rows and I have this code:
SELECT CustomerNameID,
CustomerName
FROM dbo.CustomerName
WHERE CustomerName = LOWER(CustomerName)
Here is the sample data I am testing with:
CustomerNameID CustomerName 1 John Smith 2 Sarah Johnson 3 MICHAEL WILLIAMS 4 JENNIFER BROWN 5 david jones 6 emily davis 7 Robert Miller 8 LISA WILSON 9 christopher moore 10 Amanda TaylorHow many rows are returned? See possible answers