Using Notebooks in Azure Data Studio

Learn how to use the notebook feature of Azure Data Studio to keep a set of queries together with some documentation.

Does Management Care About the Database?

In the past, Steve hasn't often felt management considered databases to be important, but that is changing.

The Basics of Dynamic Data Masking - Step 1 of the Stairway to Dynamic Data Masking

Learn the basics of how Dynamic Data Masking can be used to obfuscate data in SQL Server 2016+.

Timescale Launches Dynamic PostgreSQL, the Cost-Effective Alternative to Serverless and Peak-Allocation Pay Models

New solution allows developers and teams to “buy the base and rent the peak” when provisioning for variable workloads without wastage or performance tradeoffs

Something’s Up with Parallelism in Azure SQL DB Serverless

Or perhaps another way to phrase that is, Microsoft is up to something with parallelism. I don’t know how long it’s been this way – could even be since the launch of Azure SQL DB Serverless – but I just now noticed it while helping a client with a slow query.

Don't (Always) Be a Hero

When we need to be heroes in IT on a regular basis, that's a problem for Steve.

SQL Server and Python Tutorial

This article will show the basic outline for how Python scripts can access and work with data in SQL Server.

Don’t use DISTINCT as a “join-fixer”

I’ve quietly resolved performance issues by re-writing slow queries to avoid DISTINCT. Often, the DISTINCT is there only to serve as a “join-fixer,” and I can explain what that means using an example.

Five database DevOps practices for boosting team productivity

Speed of delivery and protecting data can often feel incompatible, but there are industry-proven database DevOps practices that bring them together in harmony.

Across each of these five key practices, there’s a theme of removing barriers and cognitive load for teams; but crucially, they are also putting safeguards in place to reduce the risks to production environments.

A rose by any other name would not be a rose

William Shakespeare once wrote in the play Romeo and Juliet: “What's in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other word would smell as sweet.” It is a beautiful sentiment in that context, and even still you might say that there is some truth to this saying in a lot of ways.  […]