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...
Effective Clustered Indexes
As a guideline, clustered Indexes should be Narrow, Unique, Static and Ever Increasing (NUSE). Michelle Ufford Explains why.
SQL Saturday #45 - Louisville
A free day of training in Louisville, KY. Come and learn more about SQL Server from a variety of experts.
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.
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