The rule of three, SQL Server on Linux edition
When it comes to Microsoft products, the rule of three — at least as far as I’m concerned — is where you can accomplish the same task in three...
2020-11-10
78 reads
Born SQL with Randolph West
T-SQL Tuesday Retrospective #003: Relationships
In my quest to respond to every T-SQL Tuesday since the dawn of the end of 2009, it was only a matter of time before Rob Farley’s name came...
2020-11-04
27 reads
T-SQL Tuesday Retrospective #002: A Puzzling Situation
For the second T-SQL Tuesday ever — again, hosted by Adam Machanic — we were asked one of three options, and I elected to go with the first one:...
2020-11-02 (first published: 2020-10-28)
319 reads
The T-SQL Tuesday Corollary
T-SQL Tuesday is a fantastic series of blog posts derived from over 130 topics over the past 11 years, inviting bloggers to share their thoughts on a particular theme...
2020-10-21
20 reads
A more considered approach to email signatures
This — like last week’s post — is not about SQL Server or Azure SQL Database. In a way, it hearkens back to a post I wrote a few years...
2020-10-14
27 reads
Read the error message
This post is brought to you — indirectly — from a boss I loved working for, on a project which almost killed me, at a company which I had...
2020-10-07
439 reads
How SQL Server stores data types: sql_variant
This post looks at a curious data type that isn’t really a data type. Instead, sql_variant tries to be all things to all people. As with most things in...
2020-09-30
229 reads
A new malware attack on SQL Server
Tencent Security has released a report (written in Chinese) describing a new malware attack by the name of “MrbMiner” on SQL Server instances exposed to the Internet with passwords that can...
2020-09-23
388 reads
If not me, then who?
[Content Warning: this post contains references to subjects that may trigger a trauma response. Read with caution.] This is not a technical post. I was going to write about...
2020-09-16
52 reads
How SQL Server stores data types: XML
This week we’re looking at how the database engine stores the XML data type in SQL Server and Azure SQL Database. If you would like to read about storage of...
2020-09-09
155 reads
Blogs
Claude Code Helps Analyze Test Data Manager Log Files
By Steve Jones
I had a customer ask about analyzing their Test Data Manager (TDM) usage to...
PowerPoint to HTML with Claude AI
By Steve Jones
I had an idea for an animated view of a sales tool, and started...
Don’t Miss Out – SQL Server Query Tuning Fundamentals Starts Next Monday!
Next Monday, February 9, 2026, my one-day live online training SQL Server Query Tuning...
Forums
Why the following cmds in sequence do not work
I need to delete rows from both the temporal main and history tables. The...
When SQL Server Central Went Down
Comments posted to this topic are about the item When SQL Server Central Went...
The String Distance I
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The String Distance I
Question of the Day
The String Distance I
In SQL Server 2025, what is returned by this code:
SELECT EDIT_DISTANCE('tim', 'tom')
Assume preview features are enabled. See possible answers