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
150 reads
Editorials
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
182 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
445 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
147 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
179 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
81 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)
310 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
208 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
161 reads
What Does Support Look Like?
With a new version of SQL Server being released every 2-3 years now, what does that mean for support from Microsoft? What about from DBAs?
2009-03-09
138 reads
Blogs
Identity Columns Can’t Be Updated: #SQLNewBlogger
By Steve Jones
I’m not sure I knew identity column values could not be updated. I ran...
Rolling Back a Broken Release
By Steve Jones
We had an interesting discussion about deployments in databases and how you go forward...
A bespoke reporting solution doesn’t have to cost the earth
By ChrisJenkins
You could be tolerating limited reporting because there isn’t an off the shelf solution...
Forums
Can someone please explain what happens?
I have mentioned this several times over several years. Can someone please help me...
SELECT COUNT(DISTINCT) returns null when nothing is found instead of 0
SELECT COUNT(DISTINCT Component) AS Found FROM tblComponents WHERE(Component NOT LIKE '%[a-z]%') AND(LTRIM(RTRIM(Component)) = 'GM13622')...
Remotely Engineer Fabric Lakehouse objects: The Fabric Modern Data Platform
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Remotely Engineer Fabric Lakehouse objects:...
Question of the Day
Creating JSON III
In a SQL Server 2025 table, called Beer, I have this data:
BeerIDBeerName 1Becks 2Fat Tire 3Mac n Jacks 4Alaskan Amber 8KirinI run this code:
SELECT JSON_OBJECTAGG(
BeerID: BeerName )
FROM beer;
What are the results? See possible answers