The Visit of the Recovery Testers.
Phil has a nasty surprise when a team of testers turn up to test an n-tier system
2009-03-30
108 reads
Editorials
Almost Like a Service Pack
Microsoft recently laid off a number of people and made a mistake that they handled poorly. Steve Jones comments about what could have been done better.
2009-03-24
146 reads
A Better English Query
Someone is trying to build a better query engine for the web, something beyond a search engine. Steve Jones comments on the possible implications for databases if this works.
2009-03-23
180 reads
Do DBAs Still Read Technical Books?
Despite my misgivings about the fall from favor of technology books, I was heartened to hear from the developers at Red Gate that the classic books on the art of programming are still important to them. What are the equivalent books for DBAs?
2009-03-23
444 reads
Being More Productive
This Friday's poll looks at your productivity. Is there some technology that has really helped you do your job better?
2009-03-20
145 reads
Guest Editorial: Short Transactions
It is ingrained in many developers and DBAs to keep transactions in SQL Server "as short as possible". Why does this mindset exist? Does it imply a deep-seated lack of confidence in the scalability of SQL Server's locking and concurrency models?
2009-03-18
177 reads
Software Licensing Cuts - Database Weekly (Mar 16, 2009)
In the news this week, Microsoft is cutting some licensing costs for larger companies. A good move for them as the economy slows.
2009-03-16
80 reads
Downtime
One thing most DBAs try to avoid whenever possible is unexpected downtime. It still happens, and we have to deal with it. This Friday Steve Jones asks in the poll how much it happens to you.
2009-03-13 (first published: 2009-02-20)
302 reads
Keep It Simple
As we build more sophisticated maintenance procedures, we increase the complexity of our systems. Is that a good thing? Steve Jones has a few comments on what this means for DBAs.
2009-03-12
207 reads
Guest Editorial: Improving Northwind
The Northwind database has a place in our collective hearts, despite all efforts to displace it in favor of AdventureWorks. However, a lot has happened in the past twelve or so years, and Phil Factor wonders if we can't, as a community, do better.
2009-03-11
158 reads
Blogs
Resetting on the AI hype train
By Brian Kelley
There's a great article from MIT Technology Review about resetting on the hype of...
A New Word: Etherness
By Steve Jones
etherness – n. the wistful feeling of looking around a gathering of loved ones,...
Vibe Coding a Login Tracking System
By Steve Jones
A customer was asking about tracking logins and logouts in Redgate Monitor. We don’t...
Forums
The Microsoft SQL Year in Review
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The Microsoft SQL Year in...
T-SQL in SQL Server 2025: The || Operator
Comments posted to this topic are about the item T-SQL in SQL Server 2025:...
Your Value from a Conference
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Your Value from a Conference
Question of the Day
UNISTR Basics
What does this code return in SQL Server 2025+? (assume the database has an appropriate collation)
SELECT UNISTR('Hello 4E16754C') AS 'A Classic';
A: 
B: 
See possible answers