By default, I add an identity column to a table and then a clustered index on top of that. I don't recall ever choosing to model a heap table. Having...

Depending on the data access pattern, other database platforms like Azure Document DB, Azure Table storage, or Azure Key Vault are better optimized for entity-attribute-value or JSON/XML document implementations. When...

While on the topic of ISV databases with incomprehensible data models, PeopleSoft comes to mind.

We can also question whether schema-less XML and JSON documents (or BLOBs, or images, or free text) belong in SQL Server in the first place. The user community has already...

Well, it's stupid to publish a dataset without knowing the meaning of what all columns or attributes are included. I'd expect better forethought from a healthcare organization knowing that the...

Documenting a legacy database is what I call "database cartography". Sometimes it's just built in a piecemeal fashion over time based on exploration and local folklore passed down from gray...

Database modeling tools can be expensive, complicated, and despite all their bells and whistles, are ultimately rigid. There have been situations where I have questioned why a database was designed...

So, it's one thing to talk about data privacy in terms of how it impacts the lives regular folks in "flyover country". Ask any politician and they'll acknowledge it's an...

I recently got added to the company's PluralSight subscription and have found the content and presentation to be quite good. It helps when your employer is forthcoming about their future plans...

If user Smith Rice can query and update tables at will, then they are totally awesome. Best thing to do in this situation is hunker down and hope they don't...

Query Store is to query performance metrics what Service Broker is to message queuing; it's just a standardized, optimized, and extensible way of doing something that many of us have...

I enabled Query Store on a 3 TB sized database that is bulk loaded nightly. During the day it receives a fairly high volume of queries (ie: 100 per second)...