Should I Type * or 1 With the EXISTS Logical Operator
In my project I see that people writes different things with EXISTS logical operator (EXISTS (SELECT StarOrOne FROM...)). They are "*", "1" and even "TOP 1 1" or "TOP 1 *". The aim of this article to give a good explanation which option is the best.
Monitoring SQL Server with Splunk and SQL Monitor
Splunk is a search engine for collecting and analyzing all sorts of "machine data", including log data and metrics for SQL Server. SQL Monitor gives you the detailed diagnostic view of all your SQL Server instances, and databases. If you have Splunk to monitor your applications and server infrastructure, and SQL Monitor to help you understand the behavior of a complex database system such as SQL Server, then you have a powerful and capable monitoring tool set.
Prevent SQL Server Blocking using Lock_Timeout
In this tip we look at a way to minimize the length of blocking using SQL Server lock timeout.
Stable Marriages Using SQL Server
In this article, we see how SQL can be used to determine matches between two groups, given a set of preferences.
Comments and More in PowerShell
Comments are helpful when programming in any language, and PowerShell is no exception. In this article, Greg Moore demonstrates how to use comments to document code and to add prerequisites in PowerShell with #Requires.
Prevent SQL Server Blocking using Lock_Timeout
Concurrency | T-SQL | Code Samples - In this tip we look at a way to minimize the length of blocking using SQL Server lock timeout.
Database Security, People and Processes
Protecting data is not easy, but it is critical. In this article, David Poole discusses database security and the behaviors needed to build secure systems.
Removing the Square Bracket Decorations with SQL Prompt
If you avoid illegal characters and reserved words in your identifiers, you'll rarely need delimiters. Sadly, SSMS applies square bracket delimiters indiscriminately, as a precaution, when generating build scripts. Phil Factor provides a handy function that adds quoted delimiters only where they are really needed and then sits back and lets SQL Prompt strip out any extraneous square brackets, in a flash.
Blogs
Monday Monitor Tips: Intelligent Alert Thresholds
By Steve Jones
At the recent Redgate Summit in Chicago, I demo’d (lightly) the ML based Alert...
A New Word: los vidados
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los vidados – n. the half-remembered acquaintances you knew years ago, who you might...
In-Person CISA Training – April 13-16, 2026
By Brian Kelley
I will be leading an in-person Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) exam prep class...
Forums
String_agg not working as needed
I'm trying to get this string_agg to put all the 'comments' into one result...
Vectors in SQL Server 2025
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Vectors in SQL Server 2025
Odd Sequences
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Odd Sequences
Question of the Day
Odd Sequences
What values are returned from this code?
CREATE SEQUENCE NumericSequence
AS NUMERIC(5,1)
START WITH 1.0
INCREMENT BY 0.1;
GO
SELECT NEXT VALUE FOR NumericSequence
GO
SELECT NEXT VALUE FOR NumericSequence
GO See possible answers