JSON indexing in SQL Server 2025: how it works and current limitations
This guide has everything you need to know about JSON indexing in SQL Server 2025: what it is, how it works, and current limitations.
2026-09-07
Uncategorized
Looking for New Blood
You may not be old, but I sure am. As I travel around to all the different conferences to speak, whether we're talking a dev conference, SQL Server, or PostgreSQL, one of the topics that keeps coming up is age. The age of the organizers. It's mostly the same people putting on events for the […]
2026-09-05
275 reads
How Can SQL Server Detect Application Errors When Developers Can’t?
How a simple Extended Events session can turn you from a silent guardian to a developer’s best ally. There is an old, undeniable paradox in the life of a Database Administrator: If you do your job perfectly, nobody remembers you exist, only when you resolve problems. When queries are fast, backups are pristine, and the […]
2026-08-31
2,311 reads
When the Token Meter is Zero
DBAKevlar disccusses the new product from Perplexity and Nvidia that just shipped on August 25th. If you haven’t been paying attention its goal is businesses whose entire generative AI solution has been what the AI bubble is betting on.
2026-08-29
92 reads
Learn From History
I've just spent a week in the UK visiting the Redgate HQ with my fellow advocates. I'm really blessed to get to work with such a great bunch of people. A couple of the conversations we had stuck with me and I'd like to share them here. Sitting in the midst of Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, UK, […]
2026-08-15
158 reads
Stairway to Reliable Database Deployments Level 6 – Managing Changesets Over Time
As database changesets accumulate over time, they gradually become more than deployment artifacts. This level explores how a well-organized changeset library evolves into a replayable representation of the database’s structural history, supporting not only reliable deployments but also reconstruction, auditing, and long-term maintainability. Through practical examples and a real-world case study, it shows why maintaining coherent Create and Rollback scripts continues to provide value long after a successful production deployment.
2026-08-05
653 reads
2026-08-03
948 reads
VACATION!
Yeah, I've got the Go-Go's running in my head because I'm going on vacation tomorrow (holiday for you UK types). I've been slogging through a really dense book, War in Human Civilization. Total recommendation. Get it. Read it. However, I'm right near the end and there's been a lot of discussion about the impact of […]
2026-08-01
145 reads
AI Observability Challenges in FinOps as a DBA
I was performing research for requested AI work and noticed that I was viewing the risks from a database perspective. As the saying goes in the tech industry, “Once a DBA always a DBA…” As foreign as some of the views were, much of it feels familiar and I simply begin to look at it […]
2026-07-25
138 reads
Exposing a SQL injection vulnerability you’ve never heard of
This article documents a SQL injection vulnerability I discovered in sys.sp_dbmmonitorupdate, a Microsoft-signed system stored procedure. For other SQL Server security vulnerabilities I’ve discovered, see the full series here.
2026-07-22
Blogs
Why sys.fn_dblog Is Undocumented And Why It's Still There
By SQLPals
Why sys.fn_dblog Is Undocumented And Why It's Still There Why sys.fn_dblog...
T-SQL Tuesday #202 SQL Server Outage You’ll Never Forget: A Roundup
When I put together the invitation for T-SQL Tuesday #202, I wasn't sure what...
A Last Minute Trip to the EU
By Steve Jones
My life has some crazy travel stretches for sure. Between speaking, office visits, customer...
Forums
Implementing Type 4 Slowly Changing Dimensions in SQL Server
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Implementing Type 4 Slowly Changing...
The Disabled Index
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The Disabled Index
Server-Level Table sizes
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Server-Level Table sizes
Question of the Day
The Disabled Index
I run this code on SQL Server 2022.
CREATE TABLE Drink
(
drinkid INT NOT NULL
CONSTRAINT DrinkPK PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED,
drinkname VARCHAR(20),
rating NUMERIC(2, 1)
)
GO
INSERT INTO Drink
(
drinkid,
drinkname,
rating
)
VALUES
(1, 'Margarita', 4.5),
(2, 'Mojito', 4.3),
(3, 'Old Fashioned', 4.7),
(4, 'Martini', 4.4),
(5, 'Cosmopolitan', 4.2)
GO
ALTER INDEX drinkpk ON dbo.drink DISABLE
GO
SELECT * FROM dbo.Drink
GO
What is the result? See possible answers