The Back Door DBA
Steve Jones is taking well-earned break. In his guest editorial slot, Brad McGehee discusses three simple techniques to help DBAs manage their time more effectively.
T-SQL Data Processing
This article from new author Peter Kierstead shows us how to implement your own "fuzzy" dedup/merge logic without resorting to RBAR in T-SQL.
Execute SQL statements in Integration Services
This tutorial walks you through the process of adding SQL statements to your SSIS packages and bundling them into logical units of work if necessary.
Transparent Data Encryption in SQL Server 2008
This article describes how the Transparent Data Encryption feature in SQL Server 2008 can be used to secure your databases
Best Practices for Database Design
One of the few things that SQL Server does not automatically help you with is the design of your tales, views, and other database objects. Having standards and design techniques can greatly ease the maintenance of your schema as well as ease the transition to having others work with the database. New author J.D. Gonzalez brings us some of his naming techniques to keep things organized.
Startup Weekend in Ann Arbor, MI, June 20-22
Calling all developers! Does the idea of going from a concept to a prototype in a 54 hour marathon weekend of design and coding sound fun to you? If so, join us!
Defining cascading referential integrity constraints in SQL Server
By using cascading referential integrity constraints, you can define the actions that SQL Server 2005 takes when a user tries to delete or update a key to which existing foreign keys point.
Introduction to XQuery in SQL Server 2005
This white paper provides an introduction to various features of XQuery implemented in SQL Server 2005 such as the FLWOR statement, operators in XQuery, if-then-else construct, XML constructors, built-in XQuery functions, type casting operators, and examples of how to use each of these features.
In The Zone
Are you in the Zone at work? Can you find those times when you are amazingly productive? Tim Mitchell asks a question in this guest editorial.
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
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Multiple Deployment Processes
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?
See possible answers