SQL Server Security: Server Roles
As yo probably know, Brian covers security topics for us and does a great job. This week he looks at the fixed roles and points out a few things you may not have thought about.
Stored Procedure vs Triggers
Performance tuning is an ongoing battle in SQL Server, but having a little knowledge up front when designing an application can greatly reduce the efforts. Do you know which performs better: stored procedures or triggers? There aren't many places where the two are interchangeable, but knowing the impacts of each might change the way you build an application. Read about this analysis by Vijaya Kumar.
Temp Tables in SQL Server
This is an entry level look at how temp tables work in SQL along with some tips about how to use them effectively.
The Best Kept Secret About SQL Query Analyzer
It has been nearly 5 years since SQL Server 2000 was released and almost seven since Query Analyzer was introduced in SQL Server 7. Surely every trick, tip, technique, or secret has been published by now? Perhaps, but this might be a new one from Yakov Shlafman. Check out what he thinks is the best kept secret.
The GO Command and the Semicolon Terminator
There are probably not many SQL Server DBAs that use the semicolon as a statement separator. In SQL Server 2005, this is required in certain places and new author Kenneth Powers brings us a look at where and why you need to use this syntax.
Tracing Deadlocks
New Author! Deadlocks aren't the most common problem but they happen they can really degrade performance. Shiv works through how to nail down what is causing the deadlock.
Transactions in SQL Server 2005 Integration Services
SQL Server 2005 no longer has DTS. Instead, the next evolution of ETL tools from Microsoft is Integration Services, with many enhancements and capabilities, far beyond what was available in SQL Server 2000 DTS. New author Jamie Thomson brings us a look at the transaction capabilities of SQLIS in Yukon.
Troubleshooting Cannot Generate SSPI Context Errors
As a DBA you do not need to know how to setup an Active Directory domain or a DNS server, but you still need to know how Kerberos, Service Principle Names, and hostnames are used to perform integrated authentication to a SQL Server. This article by new columnist Chad Miller shows you some of the more integral parts of troubleshooting running Windows Authentication security in a SQL Server environmnet.
Tutorial: Adding Conditional Formatting into Reporting Services
Last time, we discussed how to create your first report in Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services. The report we created was a status report on SQL Server Agent jobs. The report we created was from the template and was very crude looking because of that. In this short article, we are going to look at improving that report and answer a common newsgroup question I see. This week, we are going to set the rows of the report to alternate colors.
Tutorial: Designing Your First Report in SQL Server Reporting Services
Trying to get past the Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services learning curve? Well never fret, this article is a first in a series of tutorials to walk you through creating a practical report for your company to monitor your SQL Server databases. In this sample report, we are going to create a job monitoring system. Specifically, we are going to connect to our SQL Server and report if the jobs succeeded or failed the last time they ran.
Blogs
Advice I Like: Knots
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Learn how to tie a bowline knot. Practice in the dark. With one hand....
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...
Forums
Multiple Deployment Processes
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How to Use sqlpackage to Detect Schema Drift Between Azure SQL Databases
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Upgrading Admin Queries
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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?
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