Multiple Deployment Processes
Many organizations haven't standardized the way they deploy code to databases, even when they do so for applications. Steve has a few thoughts on this today.
2026-03-13
70 reads
Editorials
A Full Shutdown
Steve used to shut down systems to upgrade them, but lately he makes changes while they're running.
2026-03-11
112 reads
Not Just an Upgrade
Choosing to upgrade isn't as simple as many of us would like. Steve has a few thoughts today on the decision to move to a new version of a database server.
2026-03-09
79 reads
Why End-User Testing Is Even More Important with AI
I don’t think I’m alone in this frustration, but it crystallized for me recently while trying to do something that should have taken less than two minutes: check in for a flight. What followed was a cascade of app switching and authentication failures. I started in my favorite travel app, moved to one airline app, […]
2026-03-07
85 reads
Writing as an Art and a Job
Steve thinks communication is a core sill for technology people, especially in the age of AI.
2026-03-06
64 reads
Rollback vs. Roll Forward
Today Steve talks about deployments and whether you should roll forward or roll back.
2026-03-04
103 reads
Detecting Issues
How do you detect issues in your systems? Testing? Monitoring? Steve Jones has a few thoughts that we should find ways to do so before our customers.
2026-03-02 (first published: 2017-03-01)
275 reads
Having a Little Fun at SQL Server Central
Steve reminisces on some of the fun times he's had at SQL Server Central.
2026-02-27
87 reads
2026-02-25
90 reads
Can You Let Go of Determinism
As Steve uses AI more, it seems determinism isn't something you get out of many LLMs.
2026-02-23
110 reads
Blogs
Who Are You Doing It For?
By Brian Kelley
But as I've matured over the years, I came to realize that I needed...
Presenting Twice in May 2026
By alevyinroc
I will be presenting my latest session, Documenting Your Work for Worry-Free Vacations, in-person...
Finding the Next Sequence Value: #SQLNewBlogger
By Steve Jones
I saw a question asking about the next sequence value and decided to try...
Forums
DB Design Methods
I've read a few posts regarding what we use to design DB models and...
Auto Update Statistics not triggering on filtered indexes
I've got a table with 186,703,969 rows, about 300GB of data. There are several...
What is the difference between SQL Server and SQL Database?
I created a SQL Database in Azure Portal but I've just noticed it also...
Question of the Day
An Unusual Identity
What values are returned when I run this code?
CREATE TABLE dbo.IdentityTest2
(
id NUMERIC(10,0) IDENTITY(10,10) PRIMARY KEY,
somevalue VARCHAR(20)
)
GO
INSERT dbo.IdentityTest2
(
somevalue
)
VALUES
( 'Steve')
, ('Bill')
GO
SELECT top 10
id
FROM dbo.IdentityTest2 See possible answers