Focus on Growth in Your Career
Steve has some advice on how to grow your career by growing your skills and developing deeper knowledge.
Window Function Basics - PARTITION BY
This article looks at the basics of the OVER() clause and how the PARTITION section works.
How using a database monitoring tool helps DBAs create value for the whole organization
The rise of cross platform databases which are both on-premises and in the cloud, alongside decreasing customer satisfaction and trust in digital channels, has increased the importance - and value - of enhanced database monitoring. Find out how using a database monitoring tool creates value for the whole organization.
Learn Spark SQL Date and Time Functions
This article covers how to use the different date and time functions when working with Spark SQL.
Stairway to Database DevOps Level 4: Creating a new Azure Pipeline (with Azure SQL DB Deployment)
The first three levels of this series have been the lead-up to this level, automating the database deployment with Azure Pipelines. First, we started with an introduction to Azure DevOps and the Git client. Next, SQL Source Control was introduced to manage a database’s schema and manually deploy changes from the database to source control […]
The Stagnant Career
A stagnant career can be stifling, and it can make you unhappy at work, where you spend a lot of time. Steve has a few thoughts on how to avoid that.
Cardinality Estimation Feedback in SQL Server 2022
Cardinality estimation (CE) is a process used by the query optimizer to estimate the number of rows returned by a query or sub-part of a query. These estimates rely on two underlying things: statistics about the data and a set of assumptions—known as the model.
Plansplaining, part 20. SQL Graph (part 1)
Welcome to part twenty of the plansplaining series. It has been a long time since I last wrote a plansplaining post, partly because of my health, but also for a large part because I was out of ideas. But recently I decided to dig a bit deeper into a feature that was released in SQL Server 2017 and that I had so far not played with: SQL Graph.
GitHub Copilot - Our Best Ally for T-SQL
This article examines how GitHub Copilot might be used when working with T-SQL Code.
Be Careful with Missing Index Requests
Steve reminds people today that the recommendations from execution plans aren't always what you want to use when tuning your database.
Blogs
Shifting Mindsets: Why FinOps is Essential for Cloud Efficiency
By HeyMo0sh
As a DevOps practitioner, I’ve always focused on performance, scalability, and automation. But as...
March 2026 SQL Server Security Updates
By Brian Kelley
On Patch Tuesday, in addition to OS and Office security patches, Microsoft also released...
How Fabric Mirroring Transformed with SQL Server 2025
When mirroring was first released for Azure SQL Database, it used Change Data Capture...
Forums
Multiple Deployment Processes
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How to Use sqlpackage to Detect Schema Drift Between Azure SQL Databases
Comments posted to this topic are about the item How to Use sqlpackage to...
Upgrading Admin Queries
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Upgrading Admin Queries
Question of the Day
Upgrading Admin Queries
I have a query from a former DBA that we run on SQL Server 2025 to check on database metadata. This query references sys.sysaltfiles. I want to refactor this code to be more modern. Which DMV should I reference instead?
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