Scaling Up
Would you want to manage a VLDB? Or write the code for an application that uses one? This Friday Steve Jones asks the question of you.
Getting Started with SQL Azure Development
SQL Azure provides features similar to a relational database for your cloud apps. We’ll show you how to start developing for SQL Azure today.
A Collaborative Approach To Table Compression
A start at identifying and creating TSQL statements for tables that may benefit from compression.
Operating in Failure
Today we have an editorial from Sept 25, 2005 being republished as Steve is on vacation. This one talks about the need to expect failure in our systems and code for it.
31 Days of SSIS – Recursive SSIS Package (6/31)
31 Days of SSIS
As I mentioned in the introductory post, I’m writing 31 Days of SSIS. In the first post...
Trending Buffer Pool Performance Using DMV sys.dm_os_performance_counters
I'd seen you posted a tip on capturing SQL based PerfMon counters using sys.dm_os_performance_counters. What queries can I run against those stored results that would allow me to examine memory usage on my SQL instance?
The Importance of My Cloud Data
Steve Jones likes the cloud, but doesn't necessarily trust it. After a recent Hotmail outage, he outlines a potential issue that he sees with cloud computing.
Data Conversion in SQL Server
Most of the time, you do not have to worry about implicit conversion in SQL expressions, or when assigning a value to a column. Just occasionally, though, you'll find that data gets truncated, queries run slowly, or comparisons just seem plain wrong. Robert Sheldon explains why you sometimes need to be very careful if you mix data types when manipulating values.
Date Rounding Tactics and the Tiny Devil of SMALLDATETIME
Tiny Devils
With every new year I think a little bit about time and dates. This posts looks a little more...
DevWeek & SQL Server DevCon 2011
The 14th annual DevWeek conference takes place from 14-18 March 2011, at the Barbican Centre in central London, and once again incorporates two dedicated tracks on SQL Server, alongside seven concurrent tracks aimed at software developers.
Blogs
Advice I Like: Pyramid Schemes
By Steve Jones
If someone is trying to convince you it’s not a pyramid scheme, it’s a...
Using Prompt AI for a Travel Data Analysis
By Steve Jones
I was looking back at my year and decided to see if SQL Prompt...
FinOps for Kubernetes: Leveraging OpenCost, KubeGreen, and Kubecost for Cost Efficiency
In the era of cloud-native applications, Kubernetes has become the default standard platform for...
Forums
Database file shrink issue.
Hi experts, I have a 3+ TB database on a 2019 sql server which...
The North Star for the Year
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The North Star for the...
Multiple Escape Characters
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Multiple Escape Characters
Question of the Day
Multiple Escape Characters
In SQL Server 2025, I run this code (in a database with the appropriate collation):
SELECT UNISTR('%*3041%*308A%*304C%*3068 and good night', '%*') AS 'A Classic';
What is returned? See possible answers