SQL Server Extended Properties: Stairway to Exploring Database Metadata Level 7
In this level, I’ll introduce Extended Properties. As with the previous levels, I want to illustrate as much as possible with practical and immediately useful code.
Never Create Columns with ANSI_PADDING set to OFF
There is no good reason for having ANSI_PADDING set to OFF when you create tables in SQL Server. It was provided purely for legacy databases that had code that assumed the old CHAR behavior for dealing with padding, and its use has now been deprecated.
Securely Manage Database Credentials Using Visual Studio Manage User Secrets
In this tip we cover how to manage application secrets in a development environment to securely store database credentials.
Build the VCS Habit
Steve thinks version control is a fundamental and critical part of working in technology.
Fetch Web Data in Power BI
Introduction Reporting on web data has been a fascinating part of developing any dashboard or reports in Power BI. Often this data is available either free that can be consumed anonymously or by using some kind of authentication mechanism. In this article, I'm going to demonstrate how to connect to a web application from Power […]
Translating a SQL Server Schema into a Cassandra Table: Part II Integrity Constraints
Complex integrity constraints are more challenging to enforce in Cassandra than they are in a relational database. In this article, Shel Burkow walks through four modelling examples in Cassandra involving constraints.
What’s in that database? Getting information about routines
There is a lot of information held in SQL Server metadata about your SQL Server procedures, triggers, views and functions. Some of it is valuable, other nuggets are useful and a few are rather dull but worthy. It really all needs to be tied together to tell the full story, especially if you are not able to, or do not want to, query the metadata directly.
Combining many crossing intervals
This article demonstrates how the geometric functions in SQL can be use to solve the Islands and Gaps problem.
The WFH Challenges
Working from home can be hard and Steve has a few ideas that might help you transition during these challenging times.
Moving on from Volunteer Projects
I can’t remember a time when I was not involved in side-projects, usually as a volunteer but also writing books or creating courses. New projects are like bright, shiny objects, and it’s easy to get involved in too many of them.
Blogs
Moving On-Prem PostgreSQL to the Cloud: Picking the Right Path for Big Tables
Every PostgreSQL migration eventually hits the same fork in the road. The database is...
A Spread of Vacation
By Steve Jones
I’m off on vacation today. Which is a little weird as I just got...
How AgentDBA Identifies Backup Failures
By Arun Sirpal
Every DBA has a box like this. Sitting untouched for months. Nobody’s proud of...
Forums
Have you done a Mid year check in?
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From SQL Server On-Premises to Claude Desktop: How I built a Full MCP Pipeline
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Independence Day 2026
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Independence Day 2026
Question of the Day
Independence Day 2026
In the original Independence Day movie (1996), what type of computer did Jeff Goldblum use to connect to the alien mainframe? Take a guess, don't look it up or ask AI.
See possible answers