Coding By The Sea
An interesting experiment at Red Gate, Coding By the Sea, produced results, and Steve Jones thinks this could be a great idea for other companies.
Easy Error Trapping When Using xp_cmdshell
Getting errors and output messages when using xp_cmdshell can be tricky. This method can solve your problems.
13 Things You Should Know About Statistics and the Query Optimizer
Fabiano launches into a sound technical explanation of the way that the query optimiser works in SQL Server with a mention of Brazilian Soccer stars and young ladies on Copacabana beach. You'll never quite think of statistics, execution plans, and the query optimiser the same way again after reading this, but we think you'll understand them better.
But We Have Always Done It That Way
I recently ran across the following scenario. A SQL Server instance had been upgraded from SQL Server 2005 to SQL...
How to use sys.fn_PhysLocFormatter undocumented function
It would be nice if we could use the DBCC PAGE command to see exactly what it is stored at the page level, however, in order to do this we need to find a way to correlate the results returned from a SELECT statement with the physical data location. Is that possible? The answer is: YES. All we need to do is use the sys.fn_physLocFormatter function. In this tip, I will cover how to use this undocumented function.
PASS AppDev Presents: SQL Server Indexing
While indexing traditionally has been the concern of the DBA, it's important for developers to understand both the usefulness and the impact of indexes in your relational database. With the right indexes your application will perform like a Formula One racer, without them performance will better resemble a Model T. This presentation will explain how indexes work, what options are available to you in SQL Server 2008, and how to tune your application and your database for the best performance.By Allen White, 2/9/2010, 1:00EST
SQL Server DMV Green Paper
Get a free green paper, an early access look at a new DMV book from longtime author Ian Stirk.
Generating charts in SQL Server Reporting Services
This article displays how we can place charts in reports created using SSRS.
Get In a Line
Steve Jones talks a little about disk alignment for your SQL Server instances. This is something that you might to check on your systems and see if you can improve performance.
Keeping It All In Memory
With the release of an in-memory database from Sybase, is it time for SQL Server to join the fray?
Blogs
Microsoft Fabric OneLake Shortcuts: When to Use Them and When Not To
By James Serra
An architecture scenario Imagine separate Sales, Finance, Shared Data, and Executive Analytics workspaces. Sales...
SQL Server Security Hardening Guide Using the DoD STIG Checklist
Security on your SQL Server is important. That doesn’t need any explaining. But where...
EightKB 2026: Registration is Open!
It’s that time of year again! EightKB is back on August 20th at 13:00...
Forums
Backing Up a DMK
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The Quiet Part
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BIT_COUNT in SQL Server
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Question of the Day
Backing Up a DMK
In SQL Server 2025, I have a database with a Database Masker Key (DMK). I want to back up this key and keep a copy offline. When do I have to open this key before running the backup?
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