Featured Blog: What happens to non-clustered indexes when the table structure is changed?
Paul Randal, former SQL Server Storage Engine lead, brings us a great explanation of how indexes are affected when you alter your schema.
Microsoft Windows PowerShell and SQL Server 2005 SMO – Part 10
This installment of the series illustrates how to use PowerShell scripts in conjunction with SMO and parameters to Generate an SQL Server Script.
October Energy Update
A recap of the world of energy from the previous two months. Steve looks at solar, wind, nuclear, and more.
SQL Server Integration Services Automation
After completing a project with SQL Server 2005 Integration Services, author G Vijayakumar brings us his technique for an automated scheduling of various source data into a data warehouse with multiple packages.
Service Broker Advanced Basics Workbench
SQL Service Broker, an asynchronous queuing and messaging system for SQL Server 2005, is set to change the way we design and run distributed applications. Adam Machanic once more makes it all seem so easy in Part 2 of his epic series
SQL Server 2005 Express Edition - Part 9 - Managing User Instances
SQL Server 2005 Express Edition's unique functionality allows you to distribute and implement single-user databases, without the dependency of having administrative privileges or the need for a cumbersome configuration. This article illustrates the practical use of this feature, known as XCopy deployment.
Microsoft BI Certifications or Why SQL is a 4-Letter Word
A look at the BI certification experience of a senior consultant and developer. New author
Mining or Profiling
The more data you have, the better you should be able to predict something. Or at least that's one of the things that I learned while studying economics. If we could actually gather enough data about someone or some system, we could determine what the most likely outputs of the system will be. In the […]
Aggregating Correlated Sub-Queries
Every now and then you may attempt to calculate an aggregate function -- such as SUM() -- on a correlated subquery, only to encounter the following error:
Output Parameters
Regular columnist Robert Marda writes about the basics of using output parameters. If you're not using output params we hope this article will get you started - they are a great way to return less data to the client, perfect if you need only a few values and not a recordset/resultset.
Blogs
Advice I Like: Pyramid Schemes
By Steve Jones
If someone is trying to convince you it’s not a pyramid scheme, it’s a...
Using Prompt AI for a Travel Data Analysis
By Steve Jones
I was looking back at my year and decided to see if SQL Prompt...
FinOps for Kubernetes: Leveraging OpenCost, KubeGreen, and Kubecost for Cost Efficiency
In the era of cloud-native applications, Kubernetes has become the default standard platform for...
Forums
Database file shrink issue.
Hi experts, I have a 3+ TB database on a 2019 sql server which...
The North Star for the Year
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The North Star for the...
Multiple Escape Characters
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Multiple Escape Characters
Question of the Day
Multiple Escape Characters
In SQL Server 2025, I run this code (in a database with the appropriate collation):
SELECT UNISTR('%*3041%*308A%*304C%*3068 and good night', '%*') AS 'A Classic';
What is returned? See possible answers