Why Not Just Use VARCHAR(MAX)?
A while ago I was looking into some odd errors that were cropping up in an application, when I spotted that all the columns in a table were defined...
2025-06-30
60 reads
Blog Posts
A Six Week Break
Today is my last day of work for six weeks. I start my sabbatical Monday, or maybe this afternoon, and will be gone. I may or may not blog,...
2025-06-27
66 reads
Advice I Like: Focus on what’s important
Don’t let someone else’s urgency becomes your emergency. In fact, don’t be governed by the urgent of any sort. Focus on the important. The urgent is a tyrant. –...
2025-06-27 (first published: 2025-06-13)
450 reads
Build a Snapshot Backup Catalog in Pure Storage with SQL Server 2025’s Native REST API
I’m really excited to share some new functionality in SQL Server 2025 combined with some innovations in FlashArray’s REST API.
In this post, I’m going to show you how to...
2025-06-27
119 reads
Speaking at the 2025 PASS Data Community Summit
I will be back in Seattle this year attending the 2025 PASS Data Community Summit. This will mark my fourth year attending the Summit (I also attended one year...
2025-06-27
46 reads
Starting Points for Quantum Computing Learning
I didn't have these in my slides for the Techno Security & Digital Forensics Conference, but brought them up the web browser during the presentation. If you're looking at...
2025-06-27 (first published: 2025-06-09)
373 reads
The Book of Redgate: Motivation
Another of our values is this: Motivation isn’t about carrots and sticks. Constant oversight and the threat of punishment are incompatible with great, fulfilling work. We believe in creating...
2025-06-27
77 reads
Using a GenAI to Help Brent
Brent had a query exercise recently about train stations moving in some order and having overrides to this order in emergencies. I suppose he’s been traveling a lot lately...
2025-06-27
24 reads
2 Tips to a Working Schedule
When I watched the following video from Justin Sung, I realized that I am often guilty of the two problems he cites with regards to making my schedule work...
2025-06-26
35 reads
Monitoring SQL Server Performance with the Pure Storage FlashArray OpenMetrics Exporter
I’m excited to share a new open-source project I’ve been working on that combines two of my favorite areas: SQL Server and Pure Storage FlashArray performance monitoring. If you’ve...
2025-06-26
37 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