Have You Made a Difference?
In this time of crisis, it's up to each of us to make a difference in some way.
Database Reliability Engineer- The new DBA?
The role of the DBA is evolving! With automated builds, cloud and DevOps being the new A,B,C,Ds in the day to day management of databases, you need to up-skill and learn about Database Reliability Engineering. Join Microsoft MVP Hamish Watson to find out more.
DevOps is Essential for Analytics
Database DevOps means accurate and consistent data which is critical for analytics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning.
Aggregate Data for the Last Day of the Month
On some occasions you will need to aggregate Data for the Last Day of the Month. This article explains how.
SQL Server and Undocumented Extended Procedures
Smart DBAs automate tasks whenever possible. In this article, Greg Moore shows the need to use caution when using undocumented procedures for automating tasks, and that PowerShell may have what you need instead.
Check Your Backup Compliance Against a Data Management Provider
As a database administrator, it's your responsibility to ensure the customer data won't get lost in case of a disaster, so you either provide your own backup strategy, use a third-party script, or hire a data management provider. With the first two options, you have full control over your environment so you can know exactly […]
Next Person Up
Steve wonders today about the need to compete in our jobs, especially with employers that view us as resources.
How to Track Performance of Queries That Use RECOMPILE Hints
Say we have a stored procedure that has two queries in it, the first query will always get the same plan, but the second query will get different plans and return different numbers of rows depending on which reputation we pass in.
Cursors Without Performance Penalties
Imagine how coding might take place if cursors were as efficient as complex SELECT statements.
SQL v.Next Gets Native Python in SQL Server
The next version of SQL Server is in early preview and there is a new feature that is going to be very useful for large enterprises that want to run Big Data Clusters and perform additional data science tasks. Instead of embedding Python code in a string and submitting it to the Launchpad engine, we […]
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