Treat the Database like Code
Steve Jones reminds us that our databases contain code, and as such, they ought to be under some type of version control.
A Few Cool Things You Can Identify Using the Default Trace
If you are running an instance of SQL Server 2005 and above then most likely that instance is running the default trace. This default trace is a canned Profiler server side trace that automatically starts up when SQL Server starts. In this article Greg Larsen explains more about the default trace and shows you how to glean some event information from the trace files created by this background trace process.
Basics of XML and SQL Server, Part 5: Generate/Transmit XML with SSIS
This SSIS package generates XML invoice documents from data stored in SQL Server, then FTPs and/or Emails them to clients.
My Little Friend
Today Steve Jones talks about his favorite feature in SSMS 2012 and why everyone should use it.
Red Gate Software’s SQL Monitor 3.0 gives users the power of custom metrics
Red Gate Software has released Version 3.0 of SQL Monitor, a performance monitoring and alerting tool.
SQL Saturday #111 - Atlanta
A free day of SQL Server training in Atlanta, GA on Apr 14, 2012. Sign up today if you will be in the area.
Using Friendly Names for SQL Servers via DNS
Wouldn't it be great if your HR folks only had to put in HR-SQL.mydomain.com for the database connection in their reports? They wouldn't have to remember it was on server Nile and they certainly wouldn't have to change their reports if you migrated their database from the Nile server to the server named Danube. In DNS there are two easy ways to do this.
Bye Bye to the RAISERROR Function?
This article describes the use and advantages of the throw statement.
Too Many Bricks, Too Much Data
Too much data can be as much of a problem as too little. Today Steve Jones talks about some problems that we have in working with lots of data and how we might address the issues. Those that do well, will succeed in the future.
How to Get Information About Your Backups
When you need to restore but aren't 100% sure about the contents of your backup files, what do you do? Head to the headers. Grant Fritchey explains how to find the useful bits in these huge stores of information and make sure you restore the right files.
Blogs
A New Word: los vidados
By Steve Jones
los vidados – n. the half-remembered acquaintances you knew years ago, who you might...
In-Person CISA Training – April 13-16, 2026
By Brian Kelley
I will be leading an in-person Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) exam prep class...
EightKB 2026
EightKB is back again for 2026! The biggest online SQL Server internals conference is...
Forums
query to track time spent on individual tasks in SSIS
Hi everyone I am looking at building a query to determine how much time...
SQL Server Transactional Replication from Always On Availability Groups to Azure SQL Database
Comments posted to this topic are about the item SQL Server Transactional Replication from...
Hidden Heroes
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Hidden Heroes
Question of the Day
Identities and Sequences I
When thinking of the Identity property for auto incrementing columns and sequences for the same action, which are explicitly linked to increment a number in a table when a new row is added?
See possible answers