How to get clean, usable data out of SQL Server into Python
Build scalable data pipelines by pushing transformations into SQL and keeping Python focused on analysis.
Building Great Software
Steve notes that building great software isn't easy, and there is a lot of work that goes into this. Even in today's age of AI.
OUTER APPLY Fundamentals: Part 2
In Part 2 of this series we learn how OUTER APPLY can be used in your queries to return data, even when there are no matches between tables.
Create SQL Server 2025 Availability Groups with SSMS Wizard
SQL Server Availability Groups are great for DR and HA purposes. In this article, we look at how to setup a SQL Server 2025 Availability Group using the features in SQL Server Management Studio.
How to Work with On-Premises AI Models to Generate T-SQL Code
See how a small local model performs on some SQL tasks. This shows how Ollama can run a model on your laptop.
Imagine the Physical World
Today Steve notes that he often compares the work a computer does to what might happen if the same actions occurred in the physical world.
How SQL Server maintenance becomes an attack path – and what to do about it
The article covers four connected areas: over-privileged database users, msdb and SQL Server Agent exposure, privileged maintenance jobs, and trigger-based permission hijacking.
Managing Incidents and Fighting Fires
Managing incidents as a DBA /DB manager and some of the key things you should be doing.
BIT_COUNT in SQL Server
Learn how the BIT_COUNT() function works and how it enabled operations where data is stored in bits.
Blogs
Keeping Redshift System Table History Past 7 Days with S3 Tables
Redshift keeps its SYS_* monitoring views for seven days in cluster, which is fine...
Updating the Data API Builder
By Steve Jones
I was updating my session for the Data API Builder (DAB) recently, mostly to...
T-SQL Tuesday #202 Invitation: That One SQL Server Outage You’ll Never Forget
I am excited to host T-SQL Tuesday for the first time. I want to...
Forums
Practical Ways to Approach SQL Server Problems and Case Studies
Working with SQL Server can involve more than just writing queries. Understanding database design,...
Measuring Productivity
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Measuring Productivity
Importing Excel files into SQL Server using DuckDB and Python
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Importing Excel files into SQL...
Question of the Day
Tracking All the Queries
I have 3 instances of a brand new long running query that are executing on a SQL Server 2025 instance. Query store is enabled. One of the queries is killed by the administrator, one is cancelled by the user. The other runs to completion. How many rows are in Query Store for this query?
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