Restoring Azure Key Vault Keys and Validating SQL Server TDE Recovery: Level 7 of the Stairway to TDE
Learn about restoring your keys from an Azure Key Vault in the event of a DR situation.
Writing Before Reading
We often learn to write code before we really learn to read it, which seems like a problem to Steve.
There Are Days When I Feel Like Giving Up on the Plan Cache and Query Store.
In theory, SQL Server performance monitoring is pretty simple: 1. Review the server’s top wait types, 2. Find the queries causing those wait types, 3. Fix those queries, or improve the way the server reacts to them (indexes, settings, etc.). But in practice, step 2 is awful because:
Other IDEs
This editorial was originally published on Jun 17, 2020. It is being republished as Steve is out of town. Let us know if you've changed your SQL IDEs since then. Most of us use SSMS (SQL Server Management Studio) to manage our SQL Server instances or to write database code. However, Microsoft does give us […]
SSRS Is Dead. Here Are Your Real Options
SQL Server 2025 shipped without SSRS. If you're managing paginated reports, your options just narrowed; but they're not what most people think. I evaluated all 10 realistic migration paths. Here's an honest comparison, including the one I built.
SOFTMAX Function in SQL Server
Explore the mechanics of the SOFTMAX function in SQL Server. Transform scores into probabilities with this essential tool.
The New Wave of Security Threats
New AI tools are discovering older vulnerabilities in software, as well as new ones. Get ready for a bunch of patches to come out.
How to Calculate Distance Between Coordinates in SQL Server
Learn a quick way to calculate distances without resorting to spatial calculations.
There's Too Much to Learn
Steve has thoughts about those of us struggling to keep up with technology changes.
Can SQL Server 2025’s REGEXP_SPLIT_TO_TABLE fix STRING_SPLIT in T-SQL?
Learn how to split strings efficiently in T-SQL using STRING_SPLIT and the REGEXP_SPLIT_TO_TABLE function in SQL Server 2025.
Blogs
Stop Using Pandas for Aggregations — Try DuckDB Instead
If you've ever loaded a 2 GB CSV into pandas just to run a...
Understanding Fabric Ontology
By James Serra
What problem is Fabric Ontology trying to solve? For years, most data conversations have...
QUOTENAME Basics: #SQLNewBlogger
By Steve Jones
Recently I ran across some code that used a lot of QUOTENAME() calls. A...
Forums
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Stairway to Reliable Database Deployment Level 3 – Rehearsing Changesets Across Environments
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Stairway to Reliable Database Deployment...
QUOTENAME Quote Parameters
Comments posted to this topic are about the item QUOTENAME Quote Parameters
Question of the Day
QUOTENAME Quote Parameters
When I use QUOTENAME(), I can optionally provide the character used to surround the string in the result. Can I use any character?
See possible answers