Help Others, Help Yourself
There is something to be said for helping others. However it isn't necessarily a selfless act. Guest writer Tim Mitchell talks a little about how helping others has helped him.
Retrieving Identities on set-based inserts
Learn a foolproof way to get identity values for multi-row inserts with the OUTPUT clause in SQL Server 2005 without using a cursor.
Full Text Index Queries using CONTAINS and CONTAINSTABLE
Recent installments of our SQL Server 2005 Express Edition series have been discussing its implementation of Full Text Indexing. This article focuses on the remaining two constructs, CONTAINS and CONTAINSTABLE.
Perfect is the Enemy of Good
Today we have a guest editorial from Andy Warren. We all would love to have perfect code, but is always worth the time? Andy Warren notes that cutting a corner or two might make sense at times.
Recovering data from corrupt tables using non-clustered indexes
At times database corruption happens and no good recovery path is available. It is possible to salvage data from indexes using query hints.
Finding Invalid SQL Logins
As many of you know the system stored procedure sp_validatelogins is used for finding invalid logins. Although sp_validatelogins is useful there's...
SQLSaturday #32 - Tampa, FL
If you are in the area, come to this great one day training event in Tampa, FL.
Caution with EXCEPT
The EXCEPT operator, introduced in SQL Server 2005, can be handy in some situations where you are comparing data between two tables. New author Stephen Tirone brings us a potential issue to be aware of with this operator.
Moving PASS
The PASS Summit has been held in Seattle for a number of years, but recently people have asked to move it somewhere else. Steve Jones talks a little about the issue.
The End of Support
It can be nerve-wracking for a DBA when support for their server ends. This week support for SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2 ended and Steve Jones talks about your options.
Blogs
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...
Local Models Using GPUs with Ollama
By Steve Jones
Can you use your GPUs when running a local model under Ollama? You can,...
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