External Article

Clustering for Indexes

There is nothing spectacular about using indexes per say. However, on many occasions I have come across a variety of SQL coders that never consider validating that the index they think they are using is efficient or even being used at all. We can all put indexes on the columns that we think will be required to satisfy individual queries, but how do we know if they will ever be used. You see, if the underlying table data is constructed, contains, or is ordered in a particular way, our indexes may never be used. One of the factors around the use of an index is its clustering factor and this is what this article is about.

External Article

Cursors with SQL 2000 Part 1

This series of articles will examine the purposes, uses, and optimization of cursors in SQL 2000. SQL languages are designed so groups of records, or sets, can be manipulated easily and quickly. The speed at which groups of data can be altered, updated and deleted, demonstrates why working with sets is the preferred method. However, there are places where cursors are a better choice.

SQLServerCentral Article

SQL Server 2005 DBCC Command Quick Reference

The next version of SQL Server due in 2005 will bring about many changes in how it works, with .NET, the CLR integration, Integration Services, and much more. Many of us are looking to get a jump on the product and see where these changes might affect our scripts and environments. Jon Reade has started the work in decoding the new DBCC commands, which ones work and which don't. Since there's a limited amount of documentation for the Beta product, read about his detective work and send him off an

SQLServerCentral Article

TiVo for DBAs!!!

SQLServerCentral.com is all about learning. Our goal has been to build a community where we all teach each other how to become more proficient with SQL Server. Most of our content to date has been written articles that show you how to do something. Well we have a a better idea, maybe. Check out our new video HOWTO series.

Technical Article

Optimizing Your SQL Code with SQL Server 2005

A common complaint of database administrators (DBAs) is that performance bottlenecks are not among those problems that one can fix "by just throwing hardware at it." Thus, database servers must provide tools and techniques to help administrators address this issue. On that aspect, SQL Server 2005 does not disappoint.

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Question of the Day

URL Safe or Not?

If I use BASE4_ENCODE() in SQL Server 2025, is the output URL Safe by default?

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