TSQL Challenge 53 - Finding empty and non-empty intervals
A SQL Server instance is set up to log the session start time and end time into a table. Given this table, your job is to find all time intervals in which no one is logged in.
SQL Server Service Broker Poison Message Handling
Have you ever figured out why your Service Broker queue gets disabled automatically? What causes your Service Broker queue to get disabled in the first place? What is a poison message with respect to Service Broker? Is there anything new in SQL Server 2008 R2 for managing poison messages in Service Broker?
The DBAs Guide to Expectation Management
Your customers expectations are their primary measure of your success. How well are you managing them?
You’re reading The DBAs Guide...
Improving SQLServerCentral
Today Steve Jones talks about changes that are coming to SQLServerCentral.
Open Source SQL Server
There's a new product out that is an alternative to Microsoft SQL Server. The new HummyBase product from Kenneth Ingols SQL Software gives you another platform for your databases applications with no re-coding and at a fraction of the price.
Improving Comparison Operators and Window Functions
It is dangerous to assume that your data is sound. SQL already has intrinsic ways to cope with missing, or unknown data in its comparison predicate operators, or Theta operators. Can SQL be more effective in the way it deals with data quality? Joe Celko describes how the SQL Standard could soon evolve to deal with data in ways that allow aggregation and windowing in cases where the data quality is less than perfect.
What Counts for a DBA: Adventurousness
The ever changing nature of the relational database system requires administrators who relish risk and adventure. From the moment that Edgar F Codd proposed his 12 rules that defined the relational database management system, the language COBOL and the VSAM databases that had been so popular vanished as database administrators rushed to adopt the new system, keen as always to adopt the latest technologies, using hardware that had less power than the current middle school math student’s calculator: the relational era was born.
The Chance of Failure
Do you plan for failure as a possibility or a probability? The difference might mean you take your plans and testing a little more seriously. Steve Jones notes that you might want to plan on the latter.
How to Setup Boot from VHD for a SQL Server test or development environment
I need to setup a virtual environment for development and testing. I've heard about a new feature in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 called boot from a virtual hard disk (VHD) which allows you to create multiple VHDs and select them from the boot menu on startup without having to partition your hard drive to achieve multi-boot. I have a need for SharePoint and SQL Server test and development environments. Can you provide the details of how to set this up?
Blogs
Monday Monitor Tips: Intelligent Alert Thresholds
By Steve Jones
At the recent Redgate Summit in Chicago, I demo’d (lightly) the ML based Alert...
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...
Forums
String_agg not working as needed
I'm trying to get this string_agg to put all the 'comments' into one result...
Vectors in SQL Server 2025
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Vectors in SQL Server 2025
Odd Sequences
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Odd Sequences
Question of the Day
Odd Sequences
What values are returned from this code?
CREATE SEQUENCE NumericSequence
AS NUMERIC(5,1)
START WITH 1.0
INCREMENT BY 0.1;
GO
SELECT NEXT VALUE FOR NumericSequence
GO
SELECT NEXT VALUE FOR NumericSequence
GO See possible answers