Analyzing Tempdb Spills and Usage Across Recursive Queries
This article examines how tempdb is affected by recursive queries, using a few different methods.
2025-05-23
2,123 reads
Articles
Introduction to GitHub Actions Part 2: GitHub-hosted runners
In this article, you’ll learn about the many options for using a GitHub-hosted runner, including Docker.
2025-05-23
SQL STRING_AGG Function Use and Examples
The STRING_AGG function concatenates strings separated by a specified separator. This was introduced with SQL Server 2017.
2025-05-21
Helpful Management Studio Settings and Features
Learn a few tips and tricks to make your work with SSMS much more efficient and helpful.
2025-05-19
5,423 reads
Securing the DevOps Pipeline Part 2: Hardening Kubernetes and Cloud Security
In Part 2, we shift our focus to securing containerized deployments and cloud infrastructure. We will cover Kubernetes security hardening, real-time monitoring, infrastructure as code (IaC) security, and shifting security left to catch misconfigurations early. These strategies will help your team secure workloads in production and respond to potential threats before they lead to a security breach.
2025-05-19
How to Safely Remove a SQL Server Data File Without Downtime
Learn how to safely remove a SQL Server .ndf data file without any downtime using DBCC SHRINKFILE (EMPTYFILE). This hands-on tutorial walks through real-world Azure-based setup, data redistribution, and storage cleanup — ideal for DBAs managing enterprise SQL Server environments.
2025-05-16
2,781 reads
SQL ASCII Function Use and Examples
The ASCII function is used to return the ASCII value for the first character in a string.
2025-05-16
Your SQL Server Needs Spring Cleaning, Too.
First things first: pick up that filthy keyboard, take it over to the trash can, turn it upside down, and give it a good, vigorous shake.
2025-05-14
Data Analyst AI tool
See how ChatGPT can be used to analyze a dataset, produce charts, and train a model.
2025-05-12
389 reads
Evaluating the Randomness of SQL Server Random Number Functions
Microsoft provides T-SQL developers with three functions (rand, newid, and crypt_gen_random) for generating random numbers. Each of these functions is effective at returning random values, but feature sets associated with each function make them best suited to different use cases. This tip’s Solution section presents an overview of common use cases for random numbers in SQL Server along with references to learn more about random numbers in SQL Server.
2025-05-12
Blogs
T-SQL Tuesday #196 – Two risky career decisions I made
By DataOnWheels
The T-SQL Tuesday topic this month comes James Serra. What career risks have you...
T-SQL Tuesday #192: What career risks have you taken?
This T-SQL Tuesday is hosted by the one and only James Serra – literally...
T-SQL Tuesday #196: Taking Risks
By Steve Jones
This month we have a new host, James Serra. I’ve been trying to find...
Forums
would it be so terrible to install ssms on a few user desktops?
Hi, ssms is free here. I can think of other reasons to do this...
I'm thinking about submitting some articles
I've written some documentation on using different Markdown types of files on GitHub. It's...
Not Just an Upgrade
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Not Just an Upgrade
Question of the Day
Restoring On Top I
I am doing development work on a database and want to keep a backup so I can reset my database. I make some changes and want to restore over top of my changes. When I run this code, what happens?
USE Master BACKUP DATABASE DNRTest TO DISK = 'dnrtest.bak' GO USE DNRTest GO CREATE TABLE MyTest(myid INT) GO USE master RESTORE DATABASE DNRTest FROM DISK = 'dnrtest.bak' WITH REPLACESee possible answers