Rolling back transactions with cursors and local variables.
I’ve been doing some work on a credit card payment system lately. Obviously this needs to be robust and consistent...
2014-04-10
799 reads
Ctrl-alt-geek
Quick Tip: Migrating a SQL Server Mirroring Witness server.
If you’re like me, you might be thinking “I want some more things to think about when I migrate between...
2014-03-27
649 reads
Quick tip: Querying AD with xp_logininfo
We all have blind spots in our knowledge. We don’t know they are there and when we are thinking through...
2014-03-13
739 reads
Issue with sys.dm_db_index_usage_stats in SQL Server 2012
I’d be struggling to remember a week where I hadn’t run a query against the dmv sys.dm_db_index_usage_stats to find unused...
2014-03-10 (first published: 2014-02-27)
3,221 reads
SQL Server configuration files
Problem: You require the ability to perform a repeatable standardised installation of multiple instances of SQL Server or the ability...
2014-02-13
44,971 reads
Conditional Aggregates
The Problem: A legacy table contains amounts and a char column indicating whether the amount is a credit or a...
2014-02-11 (first published: 2014-02-04)
3,083 reads
My Favourite SSMS productivity tips
It’s a well known fact that any sitcom that runs for a certain length of time will release a clip...
2014-01-13
1,682 reads
Apply SP1 to SQL Server 2012 on active/active Windows Server 2012 cluster.
A while ago I blogged my about my approach to service packing a SQL Server 2008R2 active active cluster. Time...
2014-01-08
1,583 reads
Quick tip: Could not load package “xxx” because of error 0xC0014062
I struck this error in one of my SSIS packages, I found lots of tips and suggestions online for the...
2014-01-08 (first published: 2014-01-06)
2,000 reads
Duplicate Statistics
The Setup:
Standard best practise is to have auto create and auto update statistics set for SQL Server databases. But there...
2013-09-03 (first published: 2013-08-28)
3,509 reads
Blogs
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...
Monday Monitor Tips: SQL Auditing Preview
By Steve Jones
One of the features we advocates have been advocating for is a better way...
SQL Server 2025 CU1 Fixes the Docker Desktop AVX Issue on macOS
Microsoft fixed the AVX instruction issue in SQL Server 2025 CU1. The container now...
Forums
25 Years of SQL Server Central
Comments posted to this topic are about the item 25 Years of SQL Server...
The Decoded Value
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The Decoded Value
Deploying SQL Server Developer Edition in Kubernetes: A Cost-Effective Alternative to RDS
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Deploying SQL Server Developer Edition...
Question of the Day
The Decoded Value
In SQL Server 2025, what is returned from this code:
DECLARE @message VARCHAR(50) = 'Hello SQL Server 2025!'; DECLARE @encoded VARCHAR(MAX); SET @encoded = BASE64_ENCODE(CAST(@message AS VARBINARY(1000))); SELECT BASE64_DECODE(@encoded)See possible answers