A Matter of Life or Death
Could your job as a data professional result in the death of someone? It's entirely possible this might affect you at some point. Steve Jones talks about why you ought to do your best when setting up security.
Are remote databases fragmented? Let's Defrag.
This article shows an automated reorg/rebuild index for remote servers with notifications for the DBA.
Now you ODBC me now you don't
Phil Factor reflects on Microsoft's "handbrake turn" on OLE DB; Denali's successor will have to have all this plumbing ripped out to replace it with the older ODBC technology. It's a surprising move but makes a lot of sense, given the ubiquity of ODBC drivers for relational data access.
Disk Space Monitoring and Early Warning with PowerShell
Sean Duffy recently had an unwelcome encounter with Exchange Server Back Pressure, which cut off his message flow due to a lack of space on the server. To make sure it didn’t happen again, he found a way to automatically monitor all his servers from afar, with a little PowerShell magic.
Stairway to MDX - Level 6: Member “Family” Functions: .Parent and .Children
Some of the most important 'Member' functions of MDX are often known as the 'Family Functions'. These are used in queries on multidimensional structures for analysis and reporting, and can refer to relative nodes in the hierarchy in much the same way as in a family tree.
The Apprentice
This Friday Steve Jones asks if we should reconsider the way we train developers and other computer professionals. Give us your opinion this week.
The SQL Server Query Optimizer
To understand how to write SQL code for SQL Server that performs well, it is important to appreciate how the query optimizer works. Ben Nevarez explains the essentials, in a broad sweep through a complex subject, in an article taken from his new book 'Inside the SQL Server Query Optimizer'.
Find which port SQL Server is using to establish connections
This article will show you how to determine which network port that SQL Server is listening on for connections
Learning for Profit
Today Steve Jones talks about a way to improve your skills, make yourself more marketable for that next job, and perhaps earn some money.
Blogs
PlanTrace: Stop Reading Redshift EXPLAIN Plans. Start Seeing Them
PlanTrace: Stop Reading Redshift EXPLAIN Plans. Start Seeing Them Introducing PlanTrace — a free, browser-based...
A Cloud Dependency Failure from Amazon
By Steve Jones
I went to sleep while reading a Kindle book on my phone. I know...
Deploying AI in logistics (the unfiltered version)
A conversation with Jan Laš, CIO at HOPI, about what deploying a data agent...
Forums
SPAM Issues May 2026
We suffered a SPAM attack from May 1-6, which unfortunately corresponded with time off...
SQL Password enforcing
Hi to all We have situation at a client where someone is illegally changing...
SQL Password enforcing
Hi to all We have situation at a client where someone is illegally changing...
Question of the Day
Creating a JSON Document III
I have this data in a table called dbo.NFLTeams
TeamID TeamName City YearEstablished ------ -------- ---- --------------- 1 Cowboys Dallas 1960 2 Eagles Philadelphia 1933 3 Packers Green Bay 1919 4 Chiefs Kansas City 1960 5 49ers San Francisco 1946 6 Broncos Denver 1960 7 Seahawks Seattle 1976 8 Patriots New England 1960If I run this code, how many rows are returned?
SELECT TOP 2
json_objectagg('Team' : TeamName)
FROM dbo.NFLTeams;
See possible answers