Defensive Db Programming Chapter 05
We are here again with after another week and ready for another episode in this series. Today we get to...
SQL Schema Comparison with Visual Studio 2010
we normally do development on the development box; then during the build preparation we compare the development database with the QA/UAT/Production database to identify differences and generate schema objects for synchronization or incremental deployment scripts. How we can compare schema objects between databases and generate synchronization or incremental deployment scripts?
Individual Contributions
Each person on a team, or even in a company, can contribute something. Steve Jones reminds us not to assume we are better than others because of our job.
A deadlock was detected while trying to lock variables in SSIS
Error: 0xC001405C at SQL Log Status: A deadlock was detected while trying to lock variables "User::RowCount" for read/write access. A lock cannot be acquired after 16 attempts. The locks timed out. Have you ever considered variable locking when building your SSIS packages? I expect many people haven’t just because most of the time you never see an error like the one above. I’ll try and explain a few key concepts about variable locking and hopefully you never will see that error
SSIS: Conditional File Processing in a ForEach Loop
I’ve fielded a number of requests recently asking how to interrogate a file within SSIS and change the processing rules...
Mutexes in SQL
This article shows you how to manage process control among multiple servers using a lightweight database utility
The DBA Financial Analyst
Will DBAs need to perform more complex financial analysis of the options they consider when building and tuning software systems? Steve Jones thinks it might be a skill needed in cloud computing.
Security Auditing Matching Up Logins And Users
I have been tasked with auditing security on my SQL Server. However, this needs to be a somewhat automated process as I don't want to have to rely on taking screenshots every month to satisfy our auditors. What tables and/or views should I be using and what's the best way to extract the information out of them?
The Semantics of NULL in SQL Server 2008
Learn the basics of NULL, what it is, and how to query for it in your databases from Adolfo Socorro. What NULL means, how to account for it, and how are expressions involving NULL evaluated
Tracy Hamlin, Exceptional DBA of 2010, on what it means to go the extra mile
An interview with the Exceptional DBA of 2010, Tracy Hamlin.
Blogs
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...
EightKB 2026
EightKB is back again for 2026! The biggest online SQL Server internals conference is...
Forums
query to track time spent on individual tasks in SSIS
Hi everyone I am looking at building a query to determine how much time...
SQL Server Transactional Replication from Always On Availability Groups to Azure SQL Database
Comments posted to this topic are about the item SQL Server Transactional Replication from...
Hidden Heroes
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Hidden Heroes
Question of the Day
Identities and Sequences I
When thinking of the Identity property for auto incrementing columns and sequences for the same action, which are explicitly linked to increment a number in a table when a new row is added?
See possible answers