Dynamic Images and Databases
Should you store dynamically generated web-site graphics in a database or is the file system the better option? Dino illustrates how to make this decision in ASP.NET
Adventures With Service Broker
Service Broker is one of those new SQL Server 2005 features that doesn't get much press, but is extremely interesting from a software architect perspective. The much talked about service oriented architecture (SOA) can make use of Service Broker and new author Johan Bijnens brings us a look at this subsystem.
Post SP2 Fixes Explained
If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend all SQL Server administrators check out the post from Microsoft detailing the post-SP2 fixes.
SQL Server XML Cribsheet
If you're like me and find XML a bit of an acronym minefield, Robyn Page's Cribsheet will help sort out your XSLT from your XDM.
SQL Server Everywhere: Just Another Database?
With the release of SQL Server Everywhere Edition looming, Scott sits down with Mark Jewett and Steve Lasker to find out about Microsoft's new database engine.
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SQL Server 2005 Books
There have been a huge number of SQL Server 2005 books released in the last year, but which ones are worth buying? Here are reviews
of three new books from one of the SQL Server gurus.
Creating cross tab queries and pivot tables in SQL
For those times when you absolutely, positively got to perform a cross tab query in SQL, Keith Fletcher's T-SQL stored procedure will allow you to do it "on the fly". You can add it to your database and start cross tabbing immediately, without any further setup or changes to you SQL code. Check it out, and then take the cross tab challenge.
Sic Semper NULL
The great debate over NULLs will probably never end. Should we use them in our databases? What meaning do they have? These are all
valid questions. In this article SQL Server expert Michael Coles takes a look at the problems that are inherent in eliminating NULLs completely from
a database.
The NEWSEQUENTIALID Function
The NEWSEQUENTIALID system function is an addition to SQL Server 2005. It seeks to bring together, what used to be, conflicting requirements in SQL Server 2000; namely identity-level insert performance and globally unique values.
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
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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?
See possible answers