The Robot DBA
Steve Jones talks about the idea of an automated DBA and disputes the notion that it will come to pass anytime soon.
SQL Server 2008 and 2008 R2 Integration Services - Analysis Services Execute DDL Task
The term DDL designates Data Definition Language, which implies an action involving creating data structures. In the context of Analysis Services Execute DDL Task, this is a bit of a misnomer because its capabilities are much more diverse, extending to such areas as backups, restores, deletions, modifications, or processing. This is accomplished by employing Analysis Services Scripting Language (ASSL).
10 Bad Things About Reporting Services 2008 R2
SSRS 2008 R2 introduced lots of exciting new features, reviewed in a sister article to this one. Here we consider what Microsoft didn't do well in this version of Reporting Services.
From Vandalism to Serious Crime
It seems that there are new types of hacker attacks, not looking to steal information for profit, but for disclosure as an embarrassment. Steve Jones talks about the potential downsides for DBAs.
Raw Materials - The Low Bid
When a job is too simple to be done in-house, how far down the phylogenetic tree should you go?
10 Good Things About Reporting Services 2008 R2
The 10 things Microsoft got right about SQL Server Reporting Services 2008 R2 (a sister article shows 10 things which aren't quite so good)
Labor Day 2011
It's a holiday in the US today and Steve Jones provides a little entertainment for those people still at work.
Piracy and Agile
Do Agile IT projects have anything to learn from the organizational structures and laws used by pirates? Phil Factor is not convinced.
TSQL Challenge 64 - A Payroll calculation Challenge
This challenge invites you to solve a payroll challenge which requires special calculation of holidays and absences that are adjacent to holidays
Using a SQL Server Alias for SSIS Package Configuration Database Connection String
In this tip we will walk through setting up the SQL Server Alias and using it with SQL Server package configuration in an SSIS package.
Blogs
Narrow Task Decomposition in AI Pipeline Agents
A nightly load into sales_fact fails. Ask an orchestrating agent to break down the...
Car Update: August 2026
By Steve Jones
It’s been some time since I provided a car update, so I decided to...
Microsoft Fabric OneLake Shortcuts: When to Use Them and When Not To
By James Serra
An architecture scenario Imagine separate Sales, Finance, Shared Data, and Executive Analytics workspaces. Sales...
Forums
Searching for my own posts
I have a really stupid question... Is there an easy way to search for...
How to Work with On-Premises AI Models to Generate T-SQL Code
Comments posted to this topic are about the item How to Work with On-Premises...
Escaping Strings
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Escaping Strings
Question of the Day
Escaping Strings
The STRING_ESCAPE() function requires 2 parameters in SQL Server 2025. The first is a string of text and the second is the type of escape rules being used. What are the options for the second parameter?
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