New Column Updates
What is the fastest way to update a newly created column in a large table? New author Bimal Fernando brings us a look at a technique he uses for just this situation.
No XP, but Look Forward To 7
A look back at the news of the past week including Windows 7, SSD performance, April Fools, and consistency in SQL Server.
The Cost of Support
Microsoft is not planning on releasing Service Pack 3, but what is the best model for supporting software? Steve Jones gives a few thoughts.
Building and customizing SQL Server script templates
There is not enough time in the day to keep it all straight! There is no shame in making use of any short cuts or cheats that allow you to be a more productive and well-versed SQL Professional in order to cope with the sheer volume of expectations you are required to meet on a daily basis.
Securing Data
It's important that you do more than just implement perimeter security with firewalls. Steve Jones talks about how we can better secure our systems.
Securing Data
It's important that you do more than just implement perimeter security with firewalls. Steve Jones talks about how we can better secure our systems.
Securing Data
It's important that you do more than just implement perimeter security with firewalls. Steve Jones talks about how we can better secure our systems.
TSQL String Array Workbench
Robyn Page and Phil Factor show how to use XML-based arrays to make string handling easier in SQL Server 2005/2007, and illustrate the techniques with some useful functions
The Cost of Support
Microsoft is not planning on releasing Service Pack 3, but what is the best model for supporting software? Steve Jones gives a few thoughts.
Blogs
Presenting with Visual Studio Code
A while back I wrote a quick post on setting up key mappings in...
Advice I Like: In 100 Years
By Steve Jones
In 100 years a lot of what we take to be true now will...
dataMinds Saturday 2026 – Slides
At Saturday the 21st of February I’m presenting an introduction to dimensional modelling at...
Forums
AllocationType as ROW_OVERFLOW_DATA
Hello, I inherited a number of tables with like 20-30 column using nvarchar(256) in...
is it true we cant debug c# scripts in ssis anymore under vs
Hi, i'm running vs2022. I'm trying out a c# script that i'd like to...
Question of the Day
Missing the Jaro Winkler Distance
I upgraded a SQL Server 2019 instance to SQL Server 2025. I wanted to test the fuzzy string search functions. I run this code:
SELECT JARO_WINKLER_DISTANCE('tim', 'tom')
I get this error message:Msg 195, Level 15, State 10, Line 1 'JARO_WINKLER_DISTANCE' is not a recognized built-in function name.What is wrong? See possible answers