Getting Help Online
I spend a lot of time in the forums on various web sites, trying to assist people with getting help online. It’s shocking how hard they make it. Let’s...
2022-11-02 (first published: 2022-10-24)
152 reads
The Scary DBA
Monitor Cardinality Feedback in SQL Server 2022
It’s possible for you to see new technology at work if you use Extended Events to monitor cardinality feedback. To put it simply, cardinality, the number of rows being...
2022-10-26 (first published: 2022-10-17)
246 reads
Query Store at PASS Data Community Summit
While Query Store has been out for quite some time now, released in 2016, there’s still quite a lot of missing understanding of what Query Store can do for...
2022-10-11
17 reads
Check Every Metric
Recently, a person asked about the costs differences in an execution plan, referencing them as if they were performance measures. The key to understanding performance is to check every...
2022-10-10
26 reads
PGSQL Phriday #001: Two Truths and a Lie
As a part of my own journey of learning within PostgreSQL, I’ve decided that I’m going to take part in PGSQL Phriday as often as I can, just as...
2022-10-21 (first published: 2022-10-07)
194 reads
DevOps From Redgate
In a few weeks at the PASS Data Community Summit, I’ll be joining several other Redgaters to put on an all-day precon where we take you on a database...
2022-10-14 (first published: 2022-10-04)
124 reads
Function Vs. Performance
Recently I was looking through DBA.StackExchange when I saw a pretty simple question that I decided to answer. I went off, set up a test database and some test...
2022-10-03
33 reads
Why You Need Presentation Skills
And no, the answer is not because you want to be a Microsoft MVP. Multiple surveys have been published over the decades that list “fear of public speaking” as...
2022-09-29
31 reads
Query Tuning At PASS Data Community Summit
The all new, in-person, PASS Data Community Summit is in just a few weeks. Since I’m shortly going to be publishing a 100% rewritten book on query tuning, I...
2022-10-12 (first published: 2022-09-28)
215 reads
Extended Events for Anything but Query Tuning: bulk_insert_usage
Wouldn’t it be great to be able to directly monitor specific behaviors within SQL Server, like, oh, I don’t know, knowing exactly when, and how, someone is using BULK...
2022-09-19
50 reads
Blogs
How to Clear the SSMS Cache (SSMS 21 and Later)
By SQLPals
How to Clear the SSMS Cache (SSMS 21 and Later) Updated...
The flight recorder: Replaying what an AI agent did on my SQL Server
By Arun Sirpal
“What exactly did it do on my server?” is the first question a DBA...
Announcements from the Microsoft Fabric Community Conference — Barcelona 2026
By James Serra
Microsoft shared a broad set of Fabric, Power BI, and SQL updates at FabCon...
Forums
Let's Talk Certifications
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Let's Talk Certifications
The Hidden Security Risks of Role Combination in SSAS Tabular
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The Hidden Security Risks of...
The Empty Aggregate
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The Empty Aggregate
Question of the Day
The Empty Aggregate
I have this table in a SQL Server 2025 database:
CREATE TABLE [dbo].[CustomerOrder] ( [OrderID] [int] NULL, [CustomerID] [int] NULL, [total] [money] NULL ) ON [PRIMARY] GOWhat is returned from this code? (answers are for the sum and then the count)
SELECT SUM(total) AS sum,
COUNT(total) AS count
FROM dbo.CustomerOrder;
See possible answers