Planning for Failure
Today Steve Jones reminds us that the small disasters are likely to occur, and that you need to be sure that you're planning for them, and practicing for the recovery that will be needed.
SSIS Events and Handlers
Explore how SQL Server 2008 Integration Services' events are triggered during package execution and the ability to react to their outcome through event handlers.
Partition offset and allocation unit size of a disk for SQL Server
SQL Server performance is dependent on the server resources available and disk performance is probably the most important resource. To maximize disk performance for SQL Server, I've always been told that the drive's partition offset must be set to 32K and the allocation unit size set to 64K for partitions that hold data and 8K for partitions that hold logs. How do I find out the allocation unit size and partition offset for my drives?
Creating Custom Calendars in SQL Server Analysis Services
Businesses often have custom financial calendars - adapting these for use in SSAS can often be challenging - this article shows you how to do it.
Hot Skills
What are the hot skills for 2011? Steve Jones talks about one that you might not have thought about.
Creating User-Defined Functions in Microsoft SQL Server
SQL Server's own list of functions is limited as far as what is available for database developers to use in their applications. Starting with SQL Server 2000, database developers were given the ability to create their own routines that accept parameters, perform custom actions and return results.
Can Wives Shorten Work Hours?
This editorial was originally published on Jun 23, 2005. It is being reprinted today as Steve is on vacation. It talks about the impact of long hours on families.
SQL Server's implementation of Window Functions
Phil factor compares SQL Server 2008's implementation of Window Functions to PostgreSQL and finds SQL Server frustratingly lacking in some of the essentials.
Migrating Your SQL Server Database Applications to SQL Azure
Most business applications you write probably utilize some kind of relational database. And, as a .NET developer, the chances are that database is Microsoft SQL Server. This article walks you through migrating your SQL Server database applications to the cloud with SQL Azure.
Blogs
Moving On-Prem PostgreSQL to the Cloud: Picking the Right Path for Big Tables
Every PostgreSQL migration eventually hits the same fork in the road. The database is...
A Spread of Vacation
By Steve Jones
I’m off on vacation today. Which is a little weird as I just got...
How AgentDBA Identifies Backup Failures
By Arun Sirpal
Every DBA has a box like this. Sitting untouched for months. Nobody’s proud of...
Forums
Have you done a Mid year check in?
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Have you done a Mid...
From SQL Server On-Premises to Claude Desktop: How I built a Full MCP Pipeline
Comments posted to this topic are about the item From SQL Server On-Premises to...
Independence Day 2026
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Independence Day 2026
Question of the Day
Independence Day 2026
In the original Independence Day movie (1996), what type of computer did Jeff Goldblum use to connect to the alien mainframe? Take a guess, don't look it up or ask AI.
See possible answers