SSIS 2008 Script Component variable gotcha..
In a previous post I showed you how to access variables from within an SSIS script component. More specifically I...
Tips for Simplifying Crosstab Query Statements
Rob Gravelle takes a complex SQL statement and shows you several ways to re-write it that both simplifies and shortens it, while still yielding the same results.
TSQL Challenge 24 - Find discrepancies in the scheduled activities and actual activities performed by employees
This is a problem that I had seen in one of the forums many years back. This problem is related to a reporting requirement from the data stored by a 'poorly designed' system.
Finding the Correct Weekday Regardless of DateFirst
In this article, learn how to get the correct weekday regardless of the DateFirst setting on your server.
When Do You Deploy?
Finding downtime can be hard at times, but Steve Jones recently found a company that took it during the week. This Friday's poll asks when you can have downtime.
Why Use SSAS?
After a great presentation from Brian Knight at the NYC User Group, Robert Pearl summarizes some information about SSAS and when it makes sense to use this subsystem. And why you might want to attend that next user group meeting.
Code that Writes Code - A Good Idea or Not?
I’m a big fan of code that writes code – most of the time. For instance, whenever you use the “templates” feature in SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) or the Maintenance Wizard, you’re using code that writes other code. There’s even ...
Corruption Recovery Tips, Database Shrinkage Advice and More
Question: My backup strategy is a daily full backup at 1 a.m. and a log backup every hour. A DBCC CHECKDB also runs every day at 4 a.m. If I get to work at 8 a.m. and discover that the nighttime consistency checks found extensive corruption, how can I recover without losing a lot of data?
Job Quality
Through a circuitous route, I encountered a meaningful, thought-provoking quote lately: "... the best way to predict the future is to...
Blogs
Flyway Tips: Object History
By Steve Jones
It’s a small change, but a handy one. Flyway Desktop (FWD) now includes the...
Car Update September 2026
By Steve Jones
Software is hard. While I love our Lucid Gravity, I realize that they are...
Microsoft Tools for Making Data AI-Ready
By James Serra
Making Data AI-Ready, Part 2 (This is the second article in a three-part series...
Forums
Looking for old SQL Server 1.x - 4.21 disks, manuals, boxes, etc.
Hi everyone, I'm hoping some of the longtime SQL Server professionals here might be...
Checking the Error Log II
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Checking the Error Log II
Parameter Sniffing on SQL Server 2025: A Walkthrough with Real Numbers
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Parameter Sniffing on SQL Server...
Question of the Day
Checking the Error Log II
What is the reason I should change my old code that uses xp_readerrorlog?
See possible answers