Stored procedure: Determine last database backup
You have many SQL Servers to administer and you just want to know when the last backup was taken for each database on each instance. This stored procedure will help.
Generating a Range
What is the most efficient way of generating a range of values? SQL Server guru David Poole takes a look at a few different methods, both procedural and set based, and gives you some performance results.
Keep Bad Guys at Bay with the Advanced Security Features in SQL Server
Learn about SQL Server security techniques including the principle of least privilege, controlling metadata visibility, separation of users and schemas, and more.
Using ODS As A Middle Layer
Data warehousing is a foreign concept to many DBAs since it is not used very widely in SQL Server. However it can be a very useful tool for your business and new author Vincent Rainardi brings us the first in a series of warehousing articles, this one looking at an operational data store.
SQL Server 2005 Distilled
A new book from a former SQL Server team member looking at 2005. Read the sample chapter.
SQLServerCentral.com 5 Year Anniversary
It's been 5 years that this community has been live and Steve Jones takes a short look back at the community as well as announcing a few prizes.
Q&A with Miguel "Mono Man" De Icaza
Miguel De Icaza has been a major mover of Mono, the open-source framework for .NET since the get-go. These days he shepherds Mono along from within Novell Inc. At Novell's BrainShare conference, he discussed the latest doings with writer Paul Ferrill.
Triggers to Execute in Pre Defined Order
SQL Server allows multiple triggers on a table, but the order in which they are executed can sometimes cause problems. Author Dinesh Asanka brings us a technique for managing the order of execution for your triggers.
Blogs
Post-quantum key exchange – Insurance policy for your packets
AWS recently added support for Post-Quantum Key Exchange for TLS in Application Load Balancer...
Plan your 2026
By Brian Kelley
If you don't have a plan, you'll accomplish it. That's not a good thing.
Another Change
By Steve Jones
Today Redgate announced that we are partnering with Bregal Sagemount, a growth-focused private equity...
Forums
Where Your Value Separates You from Others
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Where Your Value Separates You...
Fixing the Error
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Fixing the Error
T-SQL in SQL Server 2025: Encoding Functions
Comments posted to this topic are about the item T-SQL in SQL Server 2025:...
Question of the Day
Fixing the Error
On SQL Server 2025, I have a database that has this collation: SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS. I decide I want to run this code:
SELECT UNISTR('*3041*308A*304C*3068 and good night', '*') AS 'A Classic';
I get this error:Msg 9844, Level 16, State 4, Line 24 The char/varchar input type uses an unsupported collation. Only a UTF8 collation is supported with char/varchar input type in UNISTR function.What is the easiest way to fix this error? See possible answers