SQL Server Database Backup and Restore Failure Notifications
My SQL Server backups and restores fail infrequently, but when I find out it is too late. How can I find out sooner?
Keep Sharing
I was given a little reward the other day. My son came home telling me that the manufacturing company he works for wants to build some custom test equipment using Arduino-style controller chips. I've been experimenting, pretty darned lightly so far, with these over the last year. He starts asking me about which controllers I […]
Planning for a Bad Day
If you found out you were being laid off, would you be ready? Steve thinks you should be lightly planning for this to happen.
Unpivot Data Using Python
This article looks at manipulating data using Python to unpivot data received in a cross tab format.
Searching Flyway Migration Files using Grep and Regex
This article demonstrates a cross-RDBMS way of searching through a set of SQL migration files, in the right order, to get a narrative summary of what changes were made, or will be made, to one or more of the tables or routines within each migration file. Getting these summary reports, even from a set of SQL migrations, isn't difficult, but having a few examples makes it a lot quicker to get started.
Understanding Power BI Security Options - Row-Level, Column-Level and Object-Level Security
Microsoft Power BI is an interactive data visualization tool primarily designed with business intelligence in mind. Apart from being a visualization tool, it also has some built-in security features that we will discuss in this article.
How to Reduce the Need for Bookmarks Using Parameters in Power BI
Learn how to implement parameters in Power BI.
Securing All Your Connections
Microsoft is recommending more security for SQL Servers, including dev and test instances. Do you agree this is a good idea? Would you implement this?
First speakers announced for Summit 2023
Your first speakers in the lineup for PASS Data Community Summit 2023 have been announced! Check out the full details for this year's Pre-Cons and Learning Pathways, and find out why some of our speakers are particularly excited for what’s in store this year.
Paging Data in T-SQL
This article will show you how to page through a set of results using the OFFSET and FETCH options of the ORDER BY clause.
Blogs
Microsoft Build 2026 announcements
By James Serra
Once again there were a number of Microsoft Build announcements related to data and...
T-SQL Tuesday #199: Roundup
A good week ago I hosted the monthly T-SQL Tuesday blog party. I invited...
No Shortcuts for the SQLCMD Batch Terminator: #SQLNewBlogger
By Steve Jones
I was messing around with SQLCMD and I realized something I hadn’t known. I’ve...
Forums
Increment a number in a SQL Query based on a value
I have an issue where I have a Bill of Material list of items...
Follow Your Hunch
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Follow Your Hunch
What Happens When You Ask a Local AI to Query Your Database?
Comments posted to this topic are about the item What Happens When You Ask...
Question of the Day
Detecting Characters
I have a SQL Server 2022 English default installation on a server. I want to detect if there are any upper case characters in rows and I have this code:
SELECT CustomerNameID,
CustomerName
FROM dbo.CustomerName
WHERE CustomerName = LOWER(CustomerName)
Here is the sample data I am testing with:
CustomerNameID CustomerName 1 John Smith 2 Sarah Johnson 3 MICHAEL WILLIAMS 4 JENNIFER BROWN 5 david jones 6 emily davis 7 Robert Miller 8 LISA WILSON 9 christopher moore 10 Amanda TaylorHow many rows are returned? See possible answers