External Article

How to Script Dimensions with data build tool (dbt) Macros

In this article, we’ll revisit the dimension models we created. We wrote the entire SQL statement for the dimension by hand, and the dimensions themselves were very rudimentary; they lacked a surrogate key and there were no audit columns (such as insert date and update date). We’ll show you how we can expand the dimensions using Jinja, but also how we can minimize development effort by baking reusable patterns into the Jinja code.

SQLServerCentral Article

Advanced SQL Server Page Forensics: Detecting Page Splits and Allocations with DBCC PAGE

Page splits are an often-overlooked performance killer in SQL Server. In this article, we take a forensic look at how serial inserts differ from mid-table inserts, revealing why inserting rows out of order causes hidden page splits, increased IO, and fragmentation. Using a wide-column table, we demonstrate both scenarios and decode their impact with page-level analysis.

SQLServerCentral Article

Deprecated but Forgotten: Why SQL Server’s Text, NText, and Image Data Types Still Haunt Your Systems

TEXT, NTEXT, and IMAGE columns have been deprecated for nearly two decades, yet they still silently haunt many SQL Server environments. This article explains their hidden limitations with practical demos and shows why migrating to VARCHAR(MAX), NVARCHAR(MAX), and VARBINARY(MAX) is critical for modern performance, maintainability, and future upgrades.

Blogs

T-SQL Tuesday #196 – Two risky career decisions I made

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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?

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This T-SQL Tuesday is hosted by the one and only James Serra – literally...

T-SQL Tuesday #196: Taking Risks

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This month we have a new host, James Serra. I’ve been trying to find...

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Forums

OPENQUERY Flexibility

By Steve Jones - SSC Editor

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A Full Shutdown

By Steve Jones - SSC Editor

Comments posted to this topic are about the item A Full Shutdown

Going Native with Fabric Spark Pools: The Fabric Modern Data Platform

By John Miner

Comments posted to this topic are about the item Going Native with Fabric Spark...

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Question of the Day

OPENQUERY Flexibility

Which of these are valid OPENQUERY() uses?

See possible answers