What is subsetting, what are the advantages, and how does it make test data management easier?

As data grows and databases become larger and more complicated, data
subsetting provides a method of working with a smaller, lighter copy of a
database to make development and testing faster and easier.

In this article, James Hemson poses the questions; what exactly is data subsetting, how and why are developers using it – or not using it, and
what’s prompting conversations about it?

Love

Love is many a splendored thing. It is also a much-abused word with many different (and twisted) meanings. The type of love I wish to speak about today is not friendship, nor the kind of thing that makes your heart go pitter patter in the springtime, but rather the type of love known as storge, […]

Focus on Growth in Your Career

Steve has some advice on how to grow your career by growing your skills and developing deeper knowledge.

Window Function Basics - PARTITION BY

This article looks at the basics of the OVER() clause and how the PARTITION section works.

How using a database monitoring tool helps DBAs create value for the whole organization

The rise of cross platform databases which are both on-premises and in the cloud, alongside decreasing customer satisfaction and trust in digital channels, has increased the importance - and value - of enhanced database monitoring. Find out how using a database monitoring tool creates value for the whole organization.

Learn Spark SQL Date and Time Functions

This article covers how to use the different date and time functions when working with Spark SQL.

Stairway to Database DevOps Level 4: Creating a new Azure Pipeline (with Azure SQL DB Deployment)

The first three levels of this series have been the lead-up to this level, automating the database deployment with Azure Pipelines. First, we started with an introduction to Azure DevOps and the Git client. Next, SQL Source Control was introduced to manage a database’s schema and manually deploy changes from the database to source control […]

The Stagnant Career

A stagnant career can be stifling, and it can make you unhappy at work, where you spend a lot of time. Steve has a few thoughts on how to avoid that.

Cardinality Estimation Feedback in SQL Server 2022

Cardinality estimation (CE) is a process used by the query optimizer to estimate the number of rows returned by a query or sub-part of a query. These estimates rely on two underlying things: statistics about the data and a set of assumptions—known as the model.

Plansplaining, part 20. SQL Graph (part 1)

Welcome to part twenty of the plansplaining series. It has been a long time since I last wrote a plansplaining post, partly because of my health, but also for a large part because I was out of ideas. But recently I decided to dig a bit deeper into a feature that was released in SQL Server 2017 and that I had so far not played with: SQL Graph.