The Build Buy Debate
Does it make more sense for a company to build it's own software or buy a package?
Matrix Math in SQL
Relational Datbases have tables as data structures, not arrays. This makes it tricky and slow to do matrix operations, but it doesn't mean it is impossible to do. Joe gives the Celko Slant on how to go about doing Matrix Math in SQL.
Dog Food
Should you dog food your own software? Steve Jones thinks this is a good idea if it works for your particular product.
Remote DBAs
There's still hope for all you DBAs out there looking for a telecommuting job that allows you to work in your pajamas. Someone sent me this case study about remote DBAs and I decided to pass it along. It's a one page PDF, and it's a fluff piece to some extent for Bluewolf, a company that has outsourced IT staffing, but has a section on remote DBA work as well
What a View
I need to create views? How many? Today? This article talks about a few issues with using views too extensively in your design.
Protecting the SQL Server Backup folder
I want to backup my SQL Server databases to a folder, but I want to minimize who has access to the folder. In other words, I want to make sure that members of the Windows Local Administrators group don't get to the backups without intentionally trying to bypass the security. How do I do that?
Challenge Yourself
Challenge yourself to find new tools and use them in your work. That's today's message from Steve Jones. (This editorial was originally published on Aug 5, 2007. It is being re-run as Steve is away on the SQL in the City US 2012 tour.)
Fragmentation Fear
Index fragmentation can certainly cause performance problems, but should it really dictate the way we design our clustered indexes?
Report Builder 3.0: Formatting the Elements in your Report
There is a lot that can be done to make basic tabular reports more readable, using Microsoft's free Report Builder. Rob Sheldon continues his exploration of the power of this tool by showing how to format various elements within reports
A simple T-SQL statement to create a list of lookup values
In this article, we provide a simple way to get a comma delimited list from a table of entries without having to use a CURSOR or a WHILE loop to read through the table.
Blogs
Databases and AI Agents
By Arun Sirpal
As part of my wider work exploring Claude Code and AI-assisted database engineering, I...
Creating a Pulsing Conducting Baton - Part 1
By Bert Wagner
Train Wreck The last time I watched a high school band nearly fall apart mid-performance...
ISACA AI Material/Exam Prep Discount (May 18 – June 30, 2026)
By Brian Kelley
If you are considering any of the ISACA AI certs like the Advanced Artificial...
Forums
Why Your Index Isn't Being Used? - Reading Execution Plans to Find the Real Culprit
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Why Your Index Isn't Being...
Distance Metric Algorithms
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What Can AI Really Do?
Comments posted to this topic are about the item What Can AI Really Do?
Question of the Day
Distance Metric Algorithms
What are the distance metric algorithms that can be used in VECTOR_DISTANCE()?
See possible answers