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
Funny Money: #SQLNewBlogger
By Steve Jones
While wandering around the documentation looking for some Question of the Day topics, I...
Why Database AI Agents need Layers?
By Arun Sirpal
Third part in my Ai series with databases. When building AI solutions within the...
Un-Migrating From the Cloud: T-SQL Tuesday #199
By Steve Jones
This month we have a very interesting invitation from Koen Verbeeck. He has hosted...
Forums
How Do the Experts Become Experts?
Comments posted to this topic are about the item How Do the Experts Become...
Stairway to Reliable Database Deployments Level 4 – Preparing for Production Deployment
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Stairway to Reliable Database Deployments...
Secure Communications
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Secure Communications
Question of the Day
Secure Communications
As of June 2026, what is the best version of TLS to use with SQL Server?
See possible answers