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...

TSQL Tuesday #26 or #23 – Identity Crisis

This second chance, gives me the opportunity to finally talk about a topic that has been on my to-blog list for quite some time.  I hope this post will...

TSQL Tuesday #26 or #23 – Identity Crisis

The first opportunity of this New Year to participate in TSQLTuesday, we have been invited by David Howard (blog) to...

How safe are your secrets?

We’ve all have service accounts, application accounts, sysadmin and domain admin accounts and other privileged shared accounts on our systems....