Optimize a SQL Server Analysis Services Measure Group Partition for Performance
In this tip you will learn how to design aggregations for a partition and optimize it for performance.
Solution
Keep Data Forever
Today Steve Jones talks about some of the issues with keeping data around a long time and a new archival medium.
The OVER Clause enhancements in SQL Server code named “Denali”, CTP3
A look at how the OVER clause is changing in SQL 11, based on the CTP 3 released to the public.
XML Configuration files in SQL Server Integration Services
Package configuration files are a great way of providing the values of SSIS package properties so that packages can be used in a far more versatile way. They make the deployment of SSIS packages easier and can provide parameters that are based on the server configuration, or which change for each runtime. They're easy to understand, especially when explained by Rob Sheldon.
Filtered Indexes in SQL Server: Stairway to SQL Server Indexes Level 7
A filtered index eliminates unusable entries from the index, producing an index that is as beneficial as, but much smaller than, an unfiltered index. If a certain subset of a table's data is frequently requested, a filtered index can also be a covering index; resulting in a considerable reduction in IO.
Pop Tarts and Hurricanes
Today Steve Jones talks about the relation between hurricanes and poptarts, and why you should be working on your T-SQL skills.
Help Make SQL Server “Denali” The Best Release Yet!
A blog from Dan Jones of Microsoft asks you to test the next release of SQL Server, in CTP3 now, and send your feedback to Microsoft to ensure that the product is well tested.
Understanding the SQL Server NOLOCK hint
It seems that in some SQL Server shops the use of the NOLOCK (aka READUNCOMMITED) hint is used throughout the application. In this tip we take a closer look at how this works and what the issues maybe when using NOLOCK.
A faster DBCC CHECKDB?
This article describes a utility that is able to report the most common DBCC CHECKDB errors significantly faster than DBCC CHECKDB does itself.
Blogs
Automatic Index Compaction
By ReviewMyDB
Index maintenance has always meant nightly jobs and a window you have to defend....
The Goldilocks problem – Materialized Views
I’m sure you’ve all heard the tale of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, but...
Monday Monitor Tips: Virtual Machine Usage and Cost
By Steve Jones
One of the things I’ve been requesting for a number of years is cost...
Forums
SQL Art, Part 4: Happy 4th of July — A British DBA's Guide to Celebrating a War We Don't Talk About
Comments posted to this topic are about the item SQL Art, Part 4: Happy...
How We Handled a Vendor Retry That Loaded Twice in Snowflake
Comments posted to this topic are about the item How We Handled a Vendor...
Cognitive Coverage
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Cognitive Coverage
Question of the Day
Getting the Average
I have this data in the dbo.Commission table in a SQL Server 2022 database.
salesperson commission Brian 12 Brian 16 Andy 7 Andy 14 Andy 21 Steve 20 Steve NULLAll the data is a varchar, and I decide to run this query to get the totals for each salesperson.
SELECT SalesPerson
, AVG(TRY_PARSE(Commission AS int)) AS TotalCommission
FROM commission
GROUP BY SalesPerson
GO
What average commission is calculated for Steve? See possible answers