Being Exceptional
It's time to vote for the Exceptional DBA awards, and Steve Jones is asking for your opinion. Take a moment and recognize one of your peers as the best DBA in 2012.
Working with SQL Agent Durations
SQL Agent stores duration in HHMMSS format - not always useful. Discover how to use Powershell, some basic math, and T-SQL to tame these unruly values.
Provisioning a New SQL Server Instance – Part Two
So how should you install and configure SQL Server 2012 properly? Glenn Berry completes his two-part series by explaining the steps needed to complete the preparation and do the actual installation.
Make a Backup First
The hack on a Gizmodo writer using Amazon and Apple customer service security holes was shocking. Steve Jones notes that while security is important, backups are even more important.
Stairway to T-SQL DML Level 8: Using the ROLLUP, CUBE and GROUPING SET operator in a GROUP BY Clause
In this article I will be expanding on my discussion of the GROUP BY clause by exploring the ROLLUP, CUBE and GROUPING SETS operators. These additional GROUP BY operators make it is easy to have SQL Server create subtotals, grand totals, a superset of subtotals, as well as multiple aggregate groupings in a single SELECT statement.
Row Number Transformation
The Row Number Transformation calculates a row number for each row, and adds this as a new output column to the data flow. The column number is a sequential number, based on a seed value. Each row receives the next number in the sequence, based on the defined increment value.
Big Data Jobs
Big Data is in the news and there is a lot of job growth. Steve Jones lists a few industries and areas where you might find one.
Hierarchies in SQL, Part II, the Sequel
In a followup to his first article on Hierarchies, Gus Gwynn takes a look at the performance of a few different methods of querying a hierarchy. Learn how the HierarchyID stacks up.
How To Support Multiple SQL Server Package Configurations in SSIS
I have several applications that use SSIS packages and I want to be able to store all the configurations together in a single table when I deploy. When a package executes I need a way of specifying the "application" and having SSIS automatically handle the package configuration based on the application.
Brad McGehee Moves On
The SQLServerCentral and Database Weekly editors recognize the contribution of Brad McGehee to the websites and newsletters, and to DBA education in general, over the past 5 years.
Blogs
Learn about Modern Microsoft Apps in San Diego
By Steve Jones
I wrote about learning today for the editorial: I Can’t Make You Learn. I...
How To Deploy Fabric SQL and Azure SQL Databases with Azure DevOps
By ReviewMyDB
Fabric has CI/CD built in, but if you've tried to use it for database...
A New Word: Attriage
By Steve Jones
attriage – n. the state of having lost all control over how you feel...
Forums
Getting results from a Procedure to join to a query
I have a need to execute a stored procedure and return the results to...
Upgrade 2016 Standard to 2022 Express
Title pretty much says it all - can this be done? I've tried several...
BIT_COUNT II
Comments posted to this topic are about the item BIT_COUNT II
Question of the Day
BIT_COUNT II
In SQL Server 2025, I have a table (dbo.UserPermission) that contains this data:
UserID UserPermissions 15 23 37 4 NULLWhat is returned when I run this code:
select bit_count(UserPermissions) as PermissionCount from dbo.UserPermission where UserID = 4;See possible answers