Is the Time of the DBA Ending?
The DBA role might be changing, but Steve thinks this creates opportunities.
2022-03-04
434 reads
Editorials
The Test Mistake
Many developers have made mistakes that in test and development environments that customers notice. Using DevOps should help reduce these issues.
2022-03-02
221 reads
Less is More
In some ways the world changes a lot; in others, it's very much the same. Steve notes that often change brings opportunities, if you can adapt.
2022-02-28
165 reads
Another look at table variables
Becoming overly enthusiastic about a new SQL Server feature can backfire if you don’t do some testing. One example is the table variable introduced with SQL Server 2000. At the time, there was a myth that table variables would always perform better than temp tables with the reasoning that, by definition, variables are stored in […]
2022-02-26
449 reads
The Usefulness of Database Features
The features we want and get in a database platform can make our job easier or harder. Steve has a few thoughts on how they should work.
2022-02-25
215 reads
A Real World Security Reminder
A reminder today that security in the physical world can affect the digital world.
2022-02-23
215 reads
Backup Architecture
Continuous backup in Cosmos DB doesn't quite work as Steve would expect. He has a few comments on why it is important you know how your backup and restore system works.
2022-02-21
465 reads
Disaster Recovery in Another Region
Years ago I worked at a large company, and we purchased a SAN appliance to consolidate our storage. This was at a time when the majority of our servers used locally attached storage. This was a big purchase, and we knew that we had to plan for issues. So, we actually purchased two appliances and […]
2022-02-19
62 reads
An Active Job Search
Steve wants you to manage your career and actively find the job that is best for you.
2022-02-18
197 reads
The NoSQL Rise and Fall
The NoSQL class of databases were very popular for awhile, but it seems many companies are sticking with an RDBMS in many cases.
2022-02-16
636 reads
Blogs
Automated SQL Server Benchmarking with HammerDB and Docker: A Complete Testing Framework
I’m excited to announce the release of a new open-source project that fully automates...
T-SQL Snapshot Backups on Availability Group Secondary Replicas
One of my favourite features of SQL Server 2022 was the T-SQL Snapshot Backups....
The Book of Redgate: Hours
By Steve Jones
I have said and written this many times: Redgate Software is the type of...
Forums
Optional Parameter Plan Optimization in SQL Server 2025: Fixing the Kitchen-Sink Search Procedure
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Optional Parameter Plan Optimization in...
AI Experience Gap that we keep talking about
Comments posted to this topic are about the item AI Experience Gap that we...
Question of the Day
ORDER BY alias
There is a table tmp_tab:
CREATE TABLE tmp_tab ( id int, val int );
INSERT INTO tmp_tab VALUES (1, 1), (2, NULL), (3, 3), (4, 4), (5, 5);You want to order the rows ids by the following expression:
ISNULL(val, id) + 1Which of the following queries produces the expected ordering and why? (Select all correct) See possible answers