A Security Regression
Marriott has had another security breach. Does this mean they aren't taking security seriously? Steve has a few thoughts.
DAX for SQL Folks: Part II - Translating SQL Queries to DAX Queries
Introduction In response to my approach in the popular MDX Guide for SQL Folks series, I am using SQL as a good frame of reference for starting or developing a new approach for improving your Data Analysis Expression(DAX) language learning experience. This is useful for developers starting to learn the DAX language to more advanced developers who […]
Free Training Week: How I Use the First Responder Kit – sp_Blitz
When you’re first approaching a SQL Server, start with sp_Blitz. We’ll cover my favorite parameters and what I look for in the results, and then start building our notes in Markdown for our eventual health check recommendations for the rest of our team.
Where AI Shines
Artificial Intelligence hasn't always worked well, but there is one place that is seems to have lots of potential.
SQL Server 2019 New Performance Features
SQL Server 2019 has introduced several new features that offer improved performance. The optimizer continues to evolve and get smarter.
Keeping Unique Aliases
Steve prefers having standards, and today notes that aliases should be included in your standards document.
Your First Pipeline with Azure Data Factory
Learn how to build your first Azure Data Factory Pipeline
Getting Started with CQRS – Part 3
Diogo Souza completes his series on CQRS. He demonstrates Event Sourcing to capture the data as it flows through the system which can then be analyzed without affecting the source.
A Pattern Based Approach to Masking Errors
A few years ago I had a requirement to allow both developers and customers to see rows from a table used to store error information while making sure that any PII, PCI or similar sensitive data was not displayed. The tolerance for “oops” was low! This article presents one way to solve the challenge by […]
Encryption Gets Broken All the Time
There are contests to break encryption algorithms taking place all the time. Another one was completed recently.
Blogs
SQL Saturday Boston Slides and Code
By Steve Jones
Thanks to everyone who attended my sessions today at SQL Saturday Boston 2025. I’ve...
Scaling SQL Server 2025 Vector Search with Load-Balanced Ollama Embeddings
SQL Server 2025 introduces native support for vector data types and external AI models....
Advice I Like: Fear and Imagination
By Steve Jones
Fear is fueled by a lack of imagination. The antidote to fear is not...
Forums
How to use data pre-computed in previous ETL SSIS Nodes?
I'm building ETL packages in SSIS. My data comes from an OLE DB Source...
Building AI Governance and Policies- First Steps
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Building AI Governance and Policies-...
Simple delete causes table scan on other tables with foreign key
Why is sql doing a full scan VS seeking on the index? I've included...
Question of the Day
Checking Identities
The DBCC CHECKIDENT command is used when working with identity values. I have a table with 10 rows in it that looks like this:
TravelLogID CityID StartDate EndDate 1 1 2025-01-11 2025-01-16 2 2 2025-01-11 2025-01-16 3 3 2025-01-11 2025-01-16 4 4 2025-01-11 2025-01-16 5 5 2025-01-11 2025-01-16 6 6 2025-01-11 2025-01-16 7 7 2025-01-11 2025-01-16 8 8 2025-01-11 2025-01-16 9 9 2025-01-11 2025-01-16 10 10 2025-01-11 2025-01-16The docs for DBCC CHECKIDENT say this if I run with only the table parameter: "If the current identity value for a table is less than the maximum identity value stored in the identity column, it is reset using the maximum value in the identity column. " I run this code:
DELETE dbo.TravelLog WHERE TravelLogID >= 9
GO
DBCC CHECKIDENT(TravelLog, RESEED)
GO
INSERT dbo.TravelLog
(
CityID,
StartDate,
EndDate
)
VALUES
(4, '2025-09-14', '2025-09-17')
GO
What is the identity value for the new row inserted by the insert statement above? See possible answers