A deceptively simple solution to a business re-engineering problem can beguile companies into selecting a compromise that doesn't actually meet all their needs. Simple is great, but not at the expense of functionality. Some IT solutions are complex because the problem is complex, but they can be made conceptually clearer.
Some tips on what to do when you inherit a database that you've never worked on before
Not everything in SQL Server is documented and Steve Jones doesn't think that everything should be. However some features are used often and should have additional documentation.
This article will show some common integer data-type conversions using T-SQL.
In PowerShell, Phil Factor believes we have a true novelty: a Windows Scripting language that outsmarts Perl and Python and Ruby and one that will continue to cause radical changes to Windows server applications, and the tools we use to administer them.
There's no shortage of technology workers, especially good ones. Today Steve Jones reminds us that we might wish to encourage others to try technology and then help prepare them for a career in this field if they enjoy it.
In a perfect world everyone has the right backups to be able to recover within the downtime and data-loss service level agreements when accidental data loss or corruption occurs. Unfortunately we don’t live in a perfect world and so many people find that they don’t have the backups they need to recover when faced with corruption.
Not only is the process of normalization valuable for increasing data quality and simplifying the process of modifying data, but it actually makes the database perform much faster. To prove the point, Peter Larsson takes a large unnormalised database and subjects it to successive stages of normalisation.
This article describes a utility that allows you to inspect cached plans and extract information that can be useful in improving the performance of your SQL.
Today we have an editorial from Aug 3, 2007. It is being republished as Steve is on vacation. Today Steve asks the question about which fun games you might like outside of work.
By Steve Jones
One of the things I’ve been requesting for a number of years is cost...
By Steve Jones
“Don’t aim to have others like you; aim to have them respect you.” –...
Many years ago, before I joined Oracle, I was working on a major modernisation...
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When running DBCC CHECKDB on SQL Server 2025, can I include the Resource Database?
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