Changing the Past
This Friday Steve Jones explores archived data. Can you restate past results or change old data? This week Steve Jones asks how data professionals feel about this and what guidance they give to their customers.
31 Days of SSIS – Environmental Variable(17/31)
31 Days of SSIS
It’s time to go back to discussing the environment when it comes to SSIS packages. For the...
Getting Fast Counts of Large Service Broker Queues
Getting Fast Counts of Large Service Broker Queues
This question regarding getting a fast count from a service broker queue came...
LINQ Lycanthropy: Transformations into LINQ
LINQ is one of the few technologies that you can start to use without a lot of preliminary learning. Also, it lends itself to learning by trying out examples. With Michael Sorens' help, you can watch as your conventional C# code changes to ravenous LINQ before your very eyes.
How to make Net Meeting a success
This article is a basic guide line to chapter leaders who are planning to have Net meetings as part of the User Group meetings.
The Face of BI for SQL Server
Donald Farmer recently left Microsoft, and he will be missed, but Steve Jones knows that there will be new faces to get to know.
Check that what you expected is actually what you got - DB's and SQLCMD
I feel that it is wise move for a script to actually check itself that the database connection that is...
ShowPlan Operator of the Week - Merge Join
Did you ever wonder how and why your indexes affect the performances of joins? Once you've read Fabiano Amorim's unforgettable explanation, you'll learn to love the MERGE operator, and plan your indexes so as to allow the Query Optimiser to use it.
XQuery for the Non-Expert – @Variable Use
Talk to the Experts
In a previous post, I discussed the exist() method as part of the XQuery for the Non-Expert...
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.
Blogs
Flyway Tips: Object History
By Steve Jones
It’s a small change, but a handy one. Flyway Desktop (FWD) now includes the...
Car Update September 2026
By Steve Jones
Software is hard. While I love our Lucid Gravity, I realize that they are...
Microsoft Tools for Making Data AI-Ready
By James Serra
Making Data AI-Ready, Part 2 (This is the second article in a three-part series...
Forums
Looking for old SQL Server 1.x - 4.21 disks, manuals, boxes, etc.
Hi everyone, I'm hoping some of the longtime SQL Server professionals here might be...
Checking the Error Log II
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Checking the Error Log II
Parameter Sniffing on SQL Server 2025: A Walkthrough with Real Numbers
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Parameter Sniffing on SQL Server...
Question of the Day
Checking the Error Log II
What is the reason I should change my old code that uses xp_readerrorlog?
See possible answers