Partitioning in SQL Server - Part 2
Arshad Ali examines the different concepts of partitioning in SQL Server 2012 and provides a step-by-step guide on creating a partition table/index.
Double Counting and Sign Reversals
Make the ad-hoc analysis of identifying potentially double-counted or sign-reversed Accounting transactions simple and painless.
The $50,000 Laptop
The average value of a lost laptop has been found to be much more than you might expect. Steve Jones talks about a recent study.
What Counts for a DBA: Amnesia
Louis Davidson explains why DBAs often need a healthy dose of selective, enforced amnesia about the pain of previous failures.
How Come the Hourglass? Why Database Applications Slow Down
It is frustrating when you hit 'submit' and you get the hourglass big-time. Is it the database to blame? It could be, but there are other suspects that should be considered. Feodor Georgiev describes where, in the long route, to and fro', that a data request makes before returning, that things can get snarled up.
DR Prep
This week Steve Jones asks how you might handle DR preparation or process differently in the new year.
Row Sorting in SQL
It should be easy to model a game of poker in SQL. The problem is, however, that you need to model a permutation from a set of elements. Joe Celko argues that using a group of columns to do this isn't necessarily a violation of 1NF, since a permutation is atomic. Then comes the second problem: how would you sort such a column-base permutation in order? Sorting columns in SQL?
All Flash
Should you think about using SSD storage in your SQL Server databases? Steve Jones thinks this might be something you should consider.
Partitioning in SQL Server
Partitioning has improved with each new version of SQL Server. From partitioned views in SQL Server 7.0 through partition table parallelism in SQL Server 2008. With SQL Server 2012, we are now allowed to even create up to a 15K partition on a single table.
Querying SQL Server Agent Job History Data
Often times we are tasked with having to programmatically come with a list of durations per SQL Server Agent Job to trend the run times and order the results by date. Unfortunately it's not always easy in the way the data is stored in the system tables in the MSDB database. This tip explains how to use the system tables to get the data into the correct format for dates and job durations.
Blogs
A Wellbeing Day at Redgate
By Steve Jones
It’s a day off for Redgate today. This is our annual wellbeing day, where...
Don’t Miss Out – SQL Server 2025 Unleashed Training Starts Next Monday!
Next Monday, March 9, 2026, my one-day live online training SQL Server 2025 Unleashed:...
What is ALM in Fabric?
By HeyMo0sh
As someone who’s worked with data for over 20 years and with many cloud...
Forums
A Quick Restore
Comments posted to this topic are about the item A Quick Restore
Guarding Against SQL Injection at the Database Layer (SQL Server)
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Guarding Against SQL Injection at...
Ola Hallengren Index Optimize Maintenance can we have data compression = page
I have a quick question on Ola Hallengren Index Optimize Maintenance . Do we...
Question of the Day
A Quick Restore
While doing some testing of an application, I wanted to reset my environment after doing some testing with this code:
USE DNRTest BACKUP DATABASE DNRTest TO DISK = 'dnrtest.bak' GO /* Bunch of stuff tested here */RESTORE DATABASE DNRTest FROM DISK = 'dnrtest.bak' WITH REPLACEWhat happens if this runs, assuming the "bunch of stuff" isn't anything affecting the instance. See possible answers