SQL Server 2016 SP1 – A significant change to licencing
A lot has been written about the change of licencing in SQL 2016 SP1. Here's my two-pence worth.
2017-05-17
10 reads
Matthew McGiffen DBA
Splitting Strings on SQL Server 2016
A small change, but a great one, in SQL 2016 is native support for splitting strings.
This has to be about...
2017-05-09
781 reads
Tuning Parallelism on SQL Server
Thoughts on how to think about parallelism in SQL Server - and how to tune it.
2017-04-18
13 reads
Working with Data in Always Encrypted
In this post we’re going to create some encrypted columns in a table in a test database and look at some of the practicalities and limitations of working with...
2017-04-10
9 reads
Understanding Keys and Certificates with Always Encrypted
This post attempts to explain in simple terms what keys are involved in Always Encrypted, how they get used, and the implications of those facts.
2017-04-03
9 reads
SQL Server 2016 – Always Encrypted and the GDPR
The European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is coming, bringing new rules about the protection of Personally Identifiable Information (PII).
For...
2017-03-28
5,637 reads
SQL 2016 – Clone Database with Query Store
This is a quickie post to introduce the new DBCC command CLONEDATABASE.
Okay so this isn’t technically a SQL Server 2016...
2019-04-26 (first published: 2017-03-20)
2,357 reads
SQL Server Query Store
Query Store was, probably without doubt, the most anticipated and talked out new feature in SQL 2016. Certainly by the...
2019-04-26 (first published: 2017-03-13)
6,346 reads
SQL Server 2016: The Coolest New Feature – Live Query Stats
This is the first in a series of blog posts about how great SQL Server 2016 is, and why you should...
2017-02-23
1,476 reads
Blogs
Ramblings about data communities and your contributions, no excuses
By DataOnWheels
I have been active in the data community throughout my career. I have met...
SQL Server Journey till 2025 (brief)
By Vinay Thakur
Quick Summary for Microsoft SQL Server till 2025, I am fortunate to be part...
Building Power BI Reports: Desktop vs Fabric
By James Serra
Why this comparison feels confusing If you’re a Power BI report author who’s just...
Forums
Multi-State Payroll Tax Issues 2026
Prepare for 2026 with this essential multi-state payroll tax issues 2026 webinar from Professionals...
Simulating Mercury’s Orbital Motion Using Pure T-SQL (NASA 2025 Dataset)
SQL Server is typically viewed as a transactional or analytical database engine. However, it...
Azure SQL Database | CREATE EVENT SESSION [Blocking_Capture] ON DATABASE
Hello, Is there a way in Azure SQL Database to change the 'Blocking Process...
Question of the Day
String Similarity I
On SQL Server 2025, when I run this, what is returned?
SELECT EDIT_DISTANCE_SIMILARITY('SQL Server', 'MySQL') See possible answers