Do You Know What the Settings Should Be?
Estate management keeps getting more complex, especially with the move to the cloud, or to multiple clouds. Today Steve talks about the need to ensure you know what the settings are in your environments.
3 Ways to Run DBCC CHECKDB Faster
In my last post, I talked about how you can get 43%-67% faster backups. This time, I’m using that same SQL Server setup to discuss how throwing more CPU cores might help you check for corruption faster if you’ve already got modern fast storage.
Solving the Provisioning Problem in Database Development using Clones
When database development is described, the details often get vague when the data gets beyond spreadsheet-size. There is 'hand-waving' talk of providing databases for each developer, but little detail of how you would provision all the databases that would be needed, at the correct version and with the correct development data, and then keep them all in sync with the source code, as developers commit changes. This article explains the requirements, and how SQL Clone can meet them.
New Stuff Can Be Scary
I'm learning how to be a net controller for a high frequency (HF) radio network. Nets are a fun way to make lots of contacts quickly. Taking part in a net is simple. You check in with the net control and then you can answer calls or make calls (different nets have different rules). It's […]
Creating Subtotals and Totals in Aggregated Queries
Grouping Sets are an effective way to add subtotals to aggregated queries. T His article explains how.
Database Development with GitHub
How can you use GitHub to do team-based database development? This article proposes a process that splits development work into task-based GitHub branches, incorporates daily database builds and integration testing, and using Redgate tools to automate tasks such as provisioning, database scripting, and testing.
Searching and Finding a String Value in all Columns in a SQL Server Table
Sometimes there is a need to find if a string value exists in any column in your table. This script will help you find all occurrences in all columns in the table.
Incremental Data Loading using Azure Data Factory
Introduction In my last article, Loading data in Azure Synapse Analytics using Azure Data Factory, I discussed the step-by-step process for loading data from an Azure storage account to Azure Synapse SQL through Azure Data Factory (ADF). ADF basics are covered in that article. In this article I will go through the process for the incremental […]
The 10X Programmer
Today Steve Jones discusses the mythical 10x programmer from the context of databases.
Blogs
Advice I Like: Respect
By Steve Jones
“Don’t aim to have others like you; aim to have them respect you.” –...
Setting Up a Mac for Data Engineering and AI Work
If you work with data pipelines, SQL, notebooks, or machine learning models, a Mac...
Want to look at cloud reporting but not sure what the costs will be?
By ChrisJenkins
Have you been thinking about migrating your reporting to Microsoft Fabric or Snowflake but...
Forums
SQL Art, Part 4: Happy 4th of July — A British DBA's Guide to Celebrating a War We Don't Talk About
Comments posted to this topic are about the item SQL Art, Part 4: Happy...
locking down agent for new user on our dev machine
hi , a new user wants to be able to add sql agent jobs...
SQL Server Enum Implementation: A Single-Row View Strategy for Avoiding Magic Values
Comments posted to this topic are about the item SQL Server Enum Implementation: A...
Question of the Day
BIT_COUNT I
In SQL Server 2025, I have a table (dbo.UserPermission) that contains this data:
UserID UserPermissions 15 23 37What is returned when I run this code:
select bit_count(UserPermissions) as PermissionCount from dbo.UserPermission where UserID = 3;See possible answers