“Included columns” for non-clustered indexes explained
Learn about the advantages and disadvantages of using INCLUDE columns in your index.
Documentation. The Under Recognised Skill
Documentation may not be something we aspire to do, but it is a valuable skill.
Reducing the Frequency of SQL Server Central Newsletters
We are reducing the sending of the SQL Server Central newsletter to three days a week.
Power BI for Business Intelligence
Power BI is becoming widely used for reporting and data analysis. There are many different versions of Power BI and the features that are offered and this article provides an overview of what is available.
Running SQL Code Analysis during Flyway Migrations
A set of PowerShell automation script tasks for running database build and migrations tasks. This article describes the SQL code analysis task, which will check the syntax of the SQL code in your databases and your migration scripts for 'code smells'.
Ransomware May Get Worse
Criminal groups using ransomware are working together, which is bad news for all organizations.
Building a SQL Server data dictionary
In this article, Edward Pollack explains the benefits of a SQL Server data dictionary and how to build one.
How do you monitor your databases? Take the survey!
Calling data professionals! We want to know how you are monitoring your servers, instances and databases. By taking the 2021 State of Database Monitoring survey, you’ll help us better understand how the community monitor and manage their estates, and the challenges they face. You’ll get exclusive early access to the 2021 State of Database Monitoring report, plus, one lucky winner will receive a $500 Amazon gift card in our prize draw.
Detecting Database Drift during Flyway Database Development
How to detect database drift prior to running a database migration, so that you can be certain that a database hasn't been subject to any 'uncontrolled' changes that could affect the migration or result in untested changes being deployed to production.
Blogs
Who Are You Doing It For?
By Brian Kelley
But as I've matured over the years, I came to realize that I needed...
Presenting Twice in May 2026
By alevyinroc
I will be presenting my latest session, Documenting Your Work for Worry-Free Vacations, in-person...
Finding the Next Sequence Value: #SQLNewBlogger
By Steve Jones
I saw a question asking about the next sequence value and decided to try...
Forums
DB Design Methods
I've read a few posts regarding what we use to design DB models and...
Auto Update Statistics not triggering on filtered indexes
I've got a table with 186,703,969 rows, about 300GB of data. There are several...
What is the difference between SQL Server and SQL Database?
I created a SQL Database in Azure Portal but I've just noticed it also...
Question of the Day
An Unusual Identity
What values are returned when I run this code?
CREATE TABLE dbo.IdentityTest2
(
id NUMERIC(10,0) IDENTITY(10,10) PRIMARY KEY,
somevalue VARCHAR(20)
)
GO
INSERT dbo.IdentityTest2
(
somevalue
)
VALUES
( 'Steve')
, ('Bill')
GO
SELECT top 10
id
FROM dbo.IdentityTest2 See possible answers