SQLServerCentral Article

Reduce Database RoundTrips Using XML

SQL Server 2000 added XML support to allow some basiuc manipulation of XML data. At the time, XML was a hot buzzword in the computer industry and there were lots of applications being written to use XML. While the buzz has cooled, Jon Winer still uses XML in some interesting ways to make his life easier and his applications more rebust. Here he brings us a technique he's used to reduce the number of round trips required by an application.

Technical Article

Data Sanitization Techniques

Data Sanitization is the process of making sensitive information in non-production databases safe for wider visibility. This White Paper is an overview of various techniques which can be used to sanitize sensitive production data in test and development databases.

Technical Article

Common Vulnerabilities in Database Security

Creating an enterprise security plan is a complex endeavour. It involves evaluating multiple threats that gain access through many network paths to a hodgepodge of different applications and systems. With the focus on systems and paths, databases are frequently overlooked. Securing the database should be a fundamental tenet for any security practitioner when developing his or her security plan. The database is the source of data, the "crown jewels" in the information economy. Any security effort must start with this in mind and end with the strongest level of controls applied at the database layer.

Technical Article

Building a 24 x 7 Database

Over the last few years, corporations have invested billions of dollars to integrate the automations of core business systems in large ERP applications. This paper looks at the risk of downtime and solutions for building an around-the-clock database.

SQLServerCentral Article

SQL MAIL Using POP3 and SMTP

SQL Server has a great build in messaging system with SQLMail. Unfortunately it requires Outlook and Exchange to work properly. Some people don't like this or do not run Exchange and have issues getting it to work. Gregory Larsen takes a look at how you can use SMTP to send email from SQL Server.

Technical Article

Updating Data in Linked Servers, Information Schema Views, and More

E
very day a developer somewhere needs to write code to iterate through SQL Server™ system objects, query and update tables in linked servers, handle optimistic concurrency, and retrieve column and stored procedure metadata. In this month's column, I will address these and other T-SQL development scenarios based on some of the questions I most frequently receive from readers.

Blogs

Learning from Mistakes: T-SQL Tuesday #194

By

We’re a week late, once again my fault. I was still coming out of...

Stupid Things I Did With AI: ASCII Art

By

I ran across this article recently (https://www.gatesnotes.com/meet-bill/source-code/reader/microsoft-original-source-code) and it has a great opening piece...

Simple Talks Podcasting in 2026

By

I’m in the UK today, having arrived this morning in London. Hopefully, by this...

Read the latest Blogs

Forums

Learning From Breakage

By Steve Jones - SSC Editor

Comments posted to this topic are about the item Learning From Breakage

Python in Action to Auto-Generate an Optimized PostgreSQL Index Strategy

By sabyda

Comments posted to this topic are about the item Python in Action to Auto-Generate...

Adding and Dropping Columns I

By Steve Jones - SSC Editor

Comments posted to this topic are about the item Adding and Dropping Columns I

Visit the forum

Question of the Day

Adding and Dropping Columns I

I have this table in my SQL Server 2022 database:

CREATE TABLE [dbo].[CityList]
(
[CityNameID] [int] NOT NULL IDENTITY(1, 1),
[CityName] [varchar] (30) COLLATE SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS NULL
) ON [PRIMARY]
GO
I decide to add two new columns for the StateProvince and Country. What code should I use?

See possible answers