Combating the CXPacket Wait Type
Often, when DBAs are looking at total wait statistics on the servers they manage, CXPacket is at or near the top of...
2015-03-24 (first published: 2015-03-17)
7,471 reads
Adam Kreul | Blog
Making Sense of PCIe SSD Use with SQL Server
When Fusion IO burst onto the scene in 2007, offering a PCIe card that was said to be able to...
2015-03-16 (first published: 2015-03-10)
6,047 reads
Configuring a Complete Memory Dump
Imagine this scenario: One of your servers just crashed, and you open a ticket with Microsoft for them to perform...
2014-11-06
1,968 reads
Database Maintenance Plans: A Primer
Databases and newborns have a lot in common. They both require constant care. They both require constant monitoring. They also...
2014-10-20 (first published: 2014-10-14)
7,041 reads
Why I’m Not Excited About Hekaton (In-Memory OLTP)
A while back I had written a post about why I’m excited about Hekaton (now called ‘In-Memory OLTP’ – not sure...
2014-09-22 (first published: 2014-09-17)
8,460 reads
A CLR Application: Deleting Three Billion Rows
In one of SQL Server Central’s recent daily newsletters, Steve Jones’s editorial was inquiring whether or not anyone has been...
2014-03-06
1,176 reads
Fight Career Frustration With Learning
If you work in IT, the office becomes your second home. It’s where we make a living, and most of...
2014-03-11 (first published: 2014-02-28)
2,964 reads
I’m on Twitter! @AdamKreul
I’m just a little late to the party, but no time like the present, right? I plan to be very...
2014-02-15
640 reads
Make Your Storage Administrator Your Best Friend
That guy or gal over there going on and on about spindles and IOPS – that’s your SAN admin. For the...
2014-02-17 (first published: 2014-02-12)
1,638 reads
Configuring the RecycleTime SSRS Setting
If you administer a SQL Server Reporting Services server, chances are you’ve had users complain the report manager is loading...
2013-11-07
4,581 reads
Blogs
The flight recorder: Replaying what an AI agent did on my SQL Server
By Arun Sirpal
“What exactly did it do on my server?” is the first question a DBA...
Announcements from the Microsoft Fabric Community Conference — Barcelona 2026
By James Serra
Microsoft shared a broad set of Fabric, Power BI, and SQL updates at FabCon...
Au Revoir for now
By Steve Jones
No, I’m not quitting or retiring. Just going on vacation, but I leave tonight...
Forums
Let's Talk Certifications
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Let's Talk Certifications, which is...
The Hidden Security Risks of Role Combination in SSAS Tabular
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The Hidden Security Risks of...
The Empty Aggregate
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The Empty Aggregate
Question of the Day
The Empty Aggregate
I have this table in a SQL Server 2025 database:
CREATE TABLE [dbo].[CustomerOrder] ( [OrderID] [int] NULL, [CustomerID] [int] NULL, [total] [money] NULL ) ON [PRIMARY] GOWhat is returned from this code? (answers are for the sum and then the count)
SELECT SUM(total) AS sum,
COUNT(total) AS count
FROM dbo.CustomerOrder;
See possible answers