Fun with business days, calendar tables, and test-driven development
We shall discuss how to
build a calendar table, and use it in calculations involving business days
Configuring Proactive Caching in SQL Server
Proactive caching helps DBAs to better control the cube data automatic refresh frequency, offering near real-time data for reports. This article covers the settings for HOLAP and ROLAP, and configuring proactive caching.
What Do We Need in SQL Server?
Steve Jones asks us today about what we might like to see in the next few versions of SQL Server.
Renaming SQL Server Policy-Based Management Policies
I have created several policies using Policy-Based Management and need to rename some of them. I don’t see an option in the GUI to rename a Policy. Is there any way I can rename them without dropping and recreating them?
Five Things I Learned at the PASS Summit
Steve Jones has attended the PASS Summit almost every year, and in that time he's learned a few things. He shares a few today that might convince you or your boss that it's worth funding the trip this year.
fn_fixeddrives() : an alternative for xp_fixeddrives
The idea is to create a SQLCLR table valued function that returns all information on drives in a UNIX df-like style.
Late September Free Training from PASS VCs
The DBA and Virtualization Virtual Chapters hope that last weeks 24 Hours of PASS got you in the mood for more free training. Here's what they have on tap for you this week:
NoSQL Is Not Everywhere
NoSQL has been getting a lot of press in the last year, but it's not necessarily the best platform or solution for you. Steve Jones comments on NoSQL and alternative platforms.
SQL Profiler Through StreamInsight Sample Solution
In this postI show how you can use StreamInsight to take events coming from SQL Server Profiler in real-time and do some analytics whilst the data is in flight. Here is the solution for that post. The download contains Project that reads events from a previously recorded trace file Project that starts a trace and captures events in real-time from a custom trace definition file (Included) It is a very simple solution and could be extended.
Big Data and SQL
Today Steve Jones talks about how some companies find efficiencies by training employees to use SQL. Perhaps that's a good idea for all developers.
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