When to use CHAR, VARCHAR, or VARCHAR(MAX)
It’s important to choose the right datatypes when designing a database. Greg Larsen explains the differences between CHAR, VARCHAR and VARCHAR(MAX).
Joining a Community
In the last week I've been actively trying to join the PostgreSQL community. It's been an interesting experience. I suspect it's going to stay interesting for a while. As part of what I'm doing, I saw this excellent video from Ryan Booz, talking about joining a new community. It got me to thinking. You have […]
Do You Still Use CHAR?
When designing a database, choosing good datatypes is important, but not necessarily all the time. Today Steve wonders if you still use fixed sting data types.
SQL Server Development Using Free Tools
You can make SQL Server database development faster and easier with a FREE toolkit!
Reporting on the Progress of a Flyway Database Development Project
This article demos a novel way to report on the progress of your Flyway development project. It provides both SQL and PowerShell versions of code that extracts information for each database version from the Flyway schema history table and then plots it in a Gantt chart.
Vertipaq optimization and its impact on columnstore compression
Vertipaq optimization is a critical component of the columnstore compression process. Edward Pollack explains how it works and what you need to know to manage it.
The Cloud as a Foundation
The innovations and possibilities of cloud computing are exciting to Steve.
Share your insights and help shape the Summit 2022 program
We want to hear from you! Tell us what's important to you by sharing your insights and preferences for PASS Data Community Summit 2022. Community feedback is at the heart of everything we do for Summit and your insights will help guide our planning for this year's conference, taking place online and in-person in Seattle, November 15 - 18, 2022.
Transformations by the Oracle Optimizer
To troubleshoot poorly performing SQL in Oracle, you must understand which transformations the optimizer has made. Jonathan Lewis demonstrates several possible optimizations for one query.
PostgreSQL in Azure using the Azure Data Studio Extension
Learn how to create a PostgreSQL database and work with it from Azure Data Studio.
Blogs
Advice I Like: Knots
By Steve Jones
Learn how to tie a bowline knot. Practice in the dark. With one hand....
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...
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