String Functions: The .Properties Function
Business Intelligence Architect Bill Pearson introduces the basic .Properties function, within the first of a two-part article surrounding this important member of our MDX toolsets.
Pro SQL Server 2005 Replication
Take a look at a sample chapter and see who won copies of this book from our Question of the Day Contest.
Recruiters
Do you like recruiters? Do you use them? It's almost impossible not to use them these days when looking for a job. So many of the listings on online job boards are from recruiters and many have deals to place people, so chances are you'll at least deal with on even if they don't get you a job.
SQL Server Spotlight on Rob Zare
With business intelligence and the Anaylsis Services platform becoming more and more popular, this has to be the hottest development team for SQL Server. Join us with a look at one of the leaders of Analysis Services development, Rob Zare.
Reduce Aggravating Aggregation: Improve the Performance of History or
Optimize the performance of a database which includes history or status tables.
SQL Server 2005 Express vs. Desktop Engine (MSDE)
SQL Server 2005 Express Edition and the SQL Server Desktop Engine (MSDE) are both free and redistributable. Each product provides a medium where database administrators can work between MS Access and the full version of SQL Server. But there are key differences to consider.
Why Data Models Do Not Work: The Role of Reference Data
There is an urgent need to acknowledge the limitations of data models and find a way to bridge the logical-physical divide between models and actual databases so that database designs can be fully understood.
The Cloud
I was interested to hear about Microsoft providing some services and storage in the "Cloud." I remember hearing about Amazon making disk space and computing services available to users.
What Could Go Wrong?
It's the law of unintended consequences: things happening that you don't expect from a seemingly unrelated area. This article talks about a data center having leaks from carpet cleaning above. The concrete floor had aged and the carpet cleaners dumped water on the carpet to soak it through and it leaked. I'm not sure how people have data centers below office floors, but I know I've had a number of them at different companies where I've worked.
How to troubleshoot Service Broker problems
In this one I'll discuss some of the problems that can arise and how to troubleshoot them.
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
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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