Down Tools Week
Sometimes it's important for a developer or DBA to be given the opportunity to 'shake up their brain'. What falls out is almost always worth having.
Working with Queues in SQL Server
This article shows sow to create a queue from a SQL table to serve each operator exactly one item from the queue that has not been picked up by any other.
Celko's SQL Stumper: Eggs in one Basket
Joe Celko returns with another stumper to celebrate Easter. Unsurprisingly, this involves eggs. More surprising is the nature of the puzzle: This time, the puzzle is one of designing a database rather than a query. DDL as well as the DML.
SQL Server Indexed Views
Views can be an effective tool for speeding up your selects and simplifying complex queries. Learn what indexed views are, where you might want to use them, how to create them, and what constraints exist with their use.
TSQL Challenge 27 - Identify overlapping weekly schedules of Nurses
This challenge is related a scheduling problem in the home health care industry. The task is to look into the schedules of nurses and identify any overlapping schedules.
A High Level Comparison Between Oracle and SQL Server - Part IV
The concluding part of the Oracle / SQL Server comparison looks at error logging, security, installation and finally querying the databases.
Decoding the SQL Server Index Structure
A deep dive into the implementation of indexes in SQL Server 2008 R2. This is information that you must know in order to tune your queries for optimum performance. Partial scans of indexes are now possible!
No More NULL
A change in the support for NULL values has Steve Jones commenting on the implications.
Insider Insights
Insider rumours and gossip from the murky world of the Database Industry, and from the colourful characters that inhabit it.
Blogs
Upgrading SQL Server Containers on the Laptop
By Steve Jones
I don’t have SQL Server installed on my laptop. In an effort to keep...
How to Find Expensive Queries in Amazon Redshift
Slow-running queries can degrade your Redshift cluster’s performance and lead to increased costs. Identifying...
The Notification Trap: How Input Fatigue Is Killing Deep Work in Tech
By gbargsley
If you've been here before, you know this blog is usually about SQL Server,...
Forums
SQL 2019 instance with AG, across 2 Windows 2016 OS servers - OSin-place upgrade
Hi all Can I get some perspective from the community please on performing in-place...
How Long is a Long I/O?
Comments posted to this topic are about the item How Long is a Long...
T-SQL Trigonometric Functions in SQL Server
Comments posted to this topic are about the item T-SQL Trigonometric Functions in SQL...
Question of the Day
How Long is a Long I/O?
In SQL Server 2025, a long I/O is recorded in the error log with message 833. How long much an I/O request be outstanding before this message is written to the log?
See possible answers