Stairway to U-SQL Level 4: U-SQL and Data Lake Tooling with Visual Studio
A guide to using Visual Studio to create U-SQL projects and scripts.
2016-07-20
3,164 reads
Stairway Series
Stairway to Exploring Database Metadata
In addition to the data that our clients and customers store in a database, there is a tremendous amount of meta data, 'data about data', that describes how the database is set up, configured, and what the properties are for the various objects. This stairway aims to demystify and explain how you can query and use this meta data to more effectively manage your SQL Server Databases.
2016-07-15
4,684 reads
Permissions and Security in Dynamic Data Masking - Step 4 of the Stairway to Dynamic Data Masking
Learn about the permissions associated with Dynamic Data Masking as well as some of the security implications of using this feature.
2022-05-25 (first published: 2016-06-29)
11,276 reads
Stairway to U-SQL
As Microsoft continues to expand the Azure platform, they have enhanced its ability in ways that are quite different from what we've come to expect from SQL Server. Learn about the new language from Microsoft, U-SQL, designed to work with Data Lakes and Big Data in Azure.
2016-06-07
6,589 reads
Stairway to Server Management Objects (SMO) Level 1: Concepts and Basics
Learn how to get started working with SMO and PowerShell.
2024-01-20 (first published: 2016-05-11)
14,091 reads
Stairway to SQL Server Extended Events
Erin Stellato, a Principal Consultant with SQLskills.com, explores the use of Extended Events as a diagnostic data collection tool or SQL Server. She describes how to define efficient low-overhead event sessions that exploit fully the vast number of events, as well as the powerful filtering and data collection options, offered by this new event collection infrastructure. She also demonstrates simple techniques to analyze event data and identify and troubleshoot the causes of poor SQL Server performance, such as long-running queries that consume vast amounts of CPU and I/O resources. It is time to embrace Extended Events and understand all that it has to offer, and Erin's stairway is the perfect place to start.
2015-12-01
6,776 reads
Stairway to SQL Server Security Level 7: Security Across Databases with Cross-Database Ownership Chaining
Sometimes you need to reach outside a database and access data and objects from multiple databases, which raises some security issues and increases the complexity of data access. In this stairway level, you’ll learn about cross-database ownership chaining so that you can reach across database boundaries securely.
2024-05-08 (first published: 2015-04-08)
11,421 reads
Stairway to Advanced T-SQL Level 3: Understanding Common Table Expressions (CTEs)
A CTE is a temporary result set defined by a simple query, and is used within the execution scope of a single INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, or SELECT statement. In this article we will explore how to define and use CTE's.
2024-04-03 (first published: 2015-03-18)
6,587 reads
Stairway to Columnstore Indexes
SQL Server 2012 and later offer a very different type of index from the traditional b-tree, the in-memory columnstore index. These indexes use a column-based storage model, as well as a new 'batch mode' of query execution and can offer huge performance increases for certain workloads. But how are they built, how do they work, and why do they manage to have such a dramatic impact on performance? In this stairway, Hugo Kornelis explains all, with his usual mix of concise description and detailed demonstration.
2015-01-22
12,402 reads
Stairway to Advanced T-SQL
This stairway will contain a series of articles that will expand on the T-SQL foundation that you learned in the prior two T-SQL stairways, Stairway to T-SQL DML and T-SQL Beyond the Basics. This stairway should help readers prepare for passing the Microsoft Certification exam 70-461: Querying Microsoft SQL Server 2012.
2014-12-11
23,284 reads
Blogs
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Announcements from the Microsoft Fabric Community Conference — Barcelona 2026
By James Serra
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Forums
Let's Talk Certifications
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The Hidden Security Risks of Role Combination in SSAS Tabular
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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