Diagnosing and Resolving Spinlock Contention on SQL Server
This paper describes how to identify and resolve spinlock contention issues observed when running SQL Server 2008 applications on high concurrency systems with certain workloads.
Extract multiple files with a MultiFlatFileConnection data flow task
A data flow task generated by the SSIS Import and Export Wizard can be configured to extract data from multiple files by changing the default connection manager to a MultiFlatFileConnection.
Not Only SQL
Steve Jones talks NoSQL today, which should stand for Not Only SQL, according to Dr David DeWitt. The final keynote last week discussed SQL alternatives and their impact on our data world.
Raw Materials - Og, Sumerian DBA
A tale from the days when civilization was young and everything was harder than it is now.
Auditing DDL Changes in SQL Server databases
Even where Source Control isn't being used by developers, it is still possible to automate the process of tracking the changes being made to a database and put those into Source Control, in order to track what changed and when. You can even get an email alert when it happens. With suitable scripting, you can even do it if you don't have direct access to the live database. Grant shows how easy this is with SQL Compare.
PASS Data Architecture Virtual Chapter presents Characteristics of a Great Relational Database
On Thursday October 20th ,MVP Louis Davidson will discuss the why normalized databases are the most important part of query tuning
Pascals Triangle, Home Work and Root Cause Analysis
A lively comparison of Pascal's triangle to root cause analysis from David Poole.
Protecting Data
How hard is it to anonymize data? According to some research, it might be close to impossible. The problem is that we are gathering so much data that cross referencing data sets becomes a problem. Steve Jones talks today about the implications of this for security.
Color Coding Your SQL Server Connections
Do you find yourself managing lots of SQL Server instances? If so you might find you are connected to many different instances and have numerous query windows open that are connected to different instances. When you have lots of query windows open, do you sometimes find it confusing to know the instance in which your query window is connected? Color-coding your connections can help you manage complicated setups.
PASS Data Architecture Virtual Chapter presents Characteristics of a Great Relational Database
On Thursday October 20th, MVP Louis Davidson will discuss the why normalized databases are the most important part of query tuning.
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