Cramming for Interviews
Today Steve Jones talks about the questions people ask on the Internet about interviews. Are they ok? Should you cram for an interview this way?
SQLServerCentral Runs sp_Blitz - Reliability
The second article that examines the output of the sp_Blitz script™ run against SQLServerCentral's database servers.
Creating SSIS Package Templates for Reusability
We often need to create similar SSIS packages which contain some common components such as connection managers, data flow components, log providers, event handlers, etc... So do we really need to create a package from scratch each time and add all these commonly used components in each package again and again. Is it possible to create a SSIS package with a basic structure/workflow and common components which can be used as template to create subsequent packages?
How to write a custom metric
You can extend SQL Monitor to track whatever you need to watch on your own system with custom metrics. Grant Fritchey shows us how.
Global Insecurities
The various security scans of 2012 reported lots of potential problems in companies. Why don't vendors make it easier for us to install and configure their software securely?
The Java Danger
This week a vulnerability in Java has prompted a large scale notice to the general public.
Developing a SQL Server Backup Strategy
Developing a backup procedure that makes sure you can do restores should be one of your top priorities as a DBA. In this article Greg Larsen discusses some of the concepts to consider when developing, building and testing a backup strategy.
An Introduction to Database Design
An introduction to database design for those people that might not understand what is involved.
The Auditing Poll
Is auditing in use in your applications? Steve Jones wants to know as he thinks it will be more important in the future for most software.
Blogs
My Social Media Rules
By Brian Kelley
I developed these rules a while back, before COVID. I had a period of...
Why Use TRY_PARSE(): #SQLNewBlogger
By Steve Jones
Someone asked why I would use TRY_PARSE after I posted a question at SQL...
A Guatemalan's Guide to Drinking Coffee Properly
My mugI grew up surrounded by coffee farms in Guatemala and somehow spent most...
Forums
Partitioning a table with TEXTIMAGE_ON option
I have a table that ends in ON [PRIMARY] TEXTIMAGE_ON [PRIMARY]. I'm about to...
OUTER APPLY Fundamentals: Part 2
Comments posted to this topic are about the item OUTER APPLY Fundamentals: Part 2
Building Great Software
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Building Great Software
Question of the Day
The Range of Customers
I have this data in the OrderHeader table in a SQL Server 2025 database (ordered by CustomerID ASC):
orderid orderdate customerid complete 3 2025-05-10 00:00:00.0002 1 21 2024-01-10 00:00:00.0003 1 15 2023-10-28 00:00:00.0004 1 13 2025-03-08 00:00:00.0006 1 11 2024-04-02 00:00:00.0007 1If I run this query, how many rows are returned?
SELECT * from dbo.OrderHeader where customerid between 3 and '6'See possible answers