Skunk Works
The idea of a skunk works is to build a project that works under the radar, by a small and loosely organized group of people. Used to fuel innovation, this is an idea that you might apply to SQL Server BI projects.
Multi-subnet Failover Clusters
Multi-subnet Failover Clusters
I want to take a closer look at one of the new features in SQL Server Denali. While...
SQL Server Unit Testing with tSQLt
When one considers the amount of time and effort that Unit Testing consumes for the Database Developer, is surprising how few good SQL Server Test frameworks are around. tSQLt , which is open source and free to use, is one of the frameworks that provide a simple way to populate a table with test data as part of the unit test, and check the results with what should be expected. Sebastian Meine and Dennis Lloyd, who created tSQLt, explain
Why Every DBA Needs a Buddy
If you truly desire to be an effective SQL Server Database Administrator then you absolutely must have a buddy.
SQL Server...
Data Scientists
Would you want to be a data scientist? Are you one now? Steve Jones talks about this skill that we might appreciate in our daily work.
Making a more reliable and flexible sp_MSforeachdb
While the system procedure sp_MSforeachdb is neither documented nor officially supported, most SQL Server professionals have used it at one time or another. This is typically for ad hoc maintenance tasks, but many people (myself included) have used this type of looping activity in permanent routines. Sadly, I have discovered instances where, under heavy load and/or with a large number of databases, the procedure can actually skip multiple catalogs with no error or warning message. Since this situation is not easily reproducible, and since Microsoft typically has no interest in fixing unsupported objects, this may be happening in your environment right now
SQL University: Spring 2011
The new SQL University Logo
Welcome back students! We’re very excited to start up a new semester and SQLU is back and...
ETL Security Holes
The growth of ETL processes and secondary systems for reporting, decision support and other analysis creates an issue. Steve Jones points out that we ought to be remembering that security needs to be applied to data, not just systems.
The Spring Semester
SQL University is kicking off their spring semester, and Steve Jones is looking to motivate you to participate.
31 Days of SSIS – Create XML Document (13/31)
31 Days of SSIS
Day thirteen and we are trucking along with the 31 Days of SSIS blog series. The last...
Blogs
Azure SQL Managed Instance Next-Gen: Bring on the IOPS
By John
If you’ve used Azure SQL Managed Instance General Purpose, you know the drill: to...
SQL, MDX, DAX – the languages of data
By DataOnWheels
Ramblings of a retired data architect Let me start by saying that I have...
Setting PK Names in Redgate Data Modeler
By Steve Jones
A customer was testing Redgate Data Modeler and complained that it auto-generated PK names....
Forums
Connecting Power BI to SSAS and effective user not working
Hi everyone, Below is a consolidated summary of what we validated Architecture & data...
High Availability setup - has anyone seen this method?
Hi all, I recently moved to a new employer who have their HA setup...
Semantic Search in SQL Server 2025
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Semantic Search in SQL Server...
Question of the Day
Encoding URLs
I have this data in a SQL Server 2025 table:
CREATE TABLE Response ( ResponseID INT NOT NULL CONSTRAINT ResponsePK PRIMARY KEY , ResponseVal VARBINARY(5000) ) GOIf I want to get a value from this table that I can add to a URL in a browser, which of these code items produces a result I can use? See possible answers