Physical File Defragmentation
A guest editorial by Brad McGehee talks about physical fragmentation and asks if you are concerned about it on your servers.
What is sysprocesses and what can it do for you?
This article presents a description of sysprocesses aimed at the newer DBAs. From new author Edward Elliot, he dives into what you can learn from this system view.
Script dimensions using Windows PowerShell and AMO
Part 11 of our series on "Microsoft Windows PowerShell and SQL Server 2008 AMO" discusses how to generate a script for given dimension of the Analysis Service database to XMLA format file.
SQL Server 2005 Row Versioning-Based Transaction Isolation
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 provides nonlocking, nonblocking read consistency to your users through snapshot isolation and read committed isolation using row versioning. Find out when you can use these features to improve performance and reduce latency in your applications.
Mastering SQL Server Profiler - Introduction
This is the introductory module for the SSC Online Video Training course, Becoming a Profiler Master. In it, MVP Brad McGeHee will discuss some of the critical factors that might persuade you of the need to master this powerful SQL Server profiling tool.
Mistakes in April
Steve Jones has a blooper reel for today that shows some of the things that happen when shooting a daily podcast.
Networking Results
I've written quite a few posts lately on networking and a very common question is - where's the results? What do I get out of all the effort, and so far my best (if lame) answer is that networking is an investment based on faith that...
Peer-to-Peer Replication in SQL Server 2008 – Configure a two-node topology
The first installment of this series describes the steps to configure a two-node Peer-to-Peer replication topology.
Performing Hierarchical Restructuring Using ANSI SQL
Discover the flexibility and power of using ANSI SQL to reshape and transform hierarchical structures.
Secure Storage
How do you keep the passwords and keys for encrypted data safe? Steve Jones comments on the challenges of working with keys and passwords.
Blogs
The Book of Redgate: Spread across the world
By Steve Jones
This was Redgate in 2010, spread across the globe. First the EU/US Here’s Asia...
Merry Christmas
By John
Today is Christmas and while I do not expect anybody to actual be reading...
Self-Hosting a Photo Server the Whole Family Can Use
By Bert Wagner
Until recently, my family's 90,000+ photos have been hidden away in the depths of...
Forums
Happy Holidays, Let's Do Nerdy Stuff
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Happy Holidays, Let's Do Nerdy...
UNISTR Escape
Comments posted to this topic are about the item UNISTR Escape
Celebrating Tomorrow
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Celebrating Tomorrow
Question of the Day
UNISTR Escape
In SQL Server 2025, I run this command:
SELECT UNISTR('*3041*308A*304C\3068 and good night', '*') as "A Classic";
What is returned? (assume the database has an appropriate collation)
A: 
B: 
C: 
See possible answers