Choosing the right professional

I’m writing this blog post from my bed, you may think that’s a little too much information there is a...

Check Version of SharePoint 2010 Currently Installed

There are several ways to check the version of SharePoint 2010 currently installed in your environment. That about sums up...

System Stored Procedures

I've been using 4 alerts for corruption now for about 2 years for Errors 823, 824, 825 and 9100.  Basically...

SQL Server – Backup to NUL trick - read throughput

A neat test for read speed backup throughput is to use the Backup to NUL .
NUL is a special “file”. It's...

Houston Area SQL Server User Group Presentation

Thanks for everyone who attended my presentation “How To Make a LOT More Money as a Consultant” at HASSUG.
Here is...

T-SQL Tuesday #26 – Second Changes with Date/Time

I missed the very first T-SQL Tuesday, so when this month’s topic of second chances came up, I decided to...

PowerView: Coordinating Chart Colors

During a recent customer engagement I was asked if it was possible to ensure that the colors in a Line...

TSQL Tuesday #026 – Second Chances

Welcome to the first TSQL Tuesday of 2012!  This month’s soiree is being hosted by Dave Howard (blog | twitter) and...

FIRST_VALUE() Analytic Function–SQL Server 2012

Given a customer table:
CREATE TABLE Customers
(CustId INT, OrderDate DATE, OrderAmount MONEY) ;
INSERT Customers VALUES
(1, ’2011-12-03', 12500)

, (1, ’2011-10-07', 15000)

, (1,...

Server Name and SQL Server Name

I have, in the past had the need to rename a server, either because the server has been named incorrectly...