Stairway to Columnstore Indexes Level 1: A First Look At Columnstore Indexes
This level introduces of you to the fundamentals of columnstore indexes, introdused in SQL Server 2012 to manage the indexing of very large tables.
A Beginner’s Guide to SQL String Functions
Get an introduction to many of the many ways you can manipulate and interact with strings using SQL. Read on for more!
Take the 2020 State of Database DevOps Survey – win a new iPad
Redgate’s 2020 State of Database DevOps Survey is open now. Share your views on Database DevOps today for a chance to win a new 65GB iPad Air. Plus, for every entry, Redgate will donate $1 to UNICEF. Take the survey now.
Better Protection from Hardware
Today Steve looks at a research project from Microsoft that provides some better protection from firmware security issues.
Monitor Current Analysis Services Activity
Although not every business has SSAS (SQL Server Analysis Services) installed nor use it extensively, the ones who do also care about their database responsiveness. If it is slow, what else is running that may be causing the slowness? Are there any locks? What commands are being run, who is running them, from where? How […]
Test data provisioning for development – free whitepaper
Compare the most common approaches to provisioning test data to database development teams and see how they stack up.
Learn why traditional approaches like restore from backup are no longer suitable, and how successful organizations are implementing a combined data masking and data virtualization approach.
Update only Year, Month or Day in a SQL Server Date
In this tip we look at how to change specific parts of a date such as the Year, Month or Day for data stored in a SQL Server table.
SQL Server performance issue after an upgrade
Recently, I came across a problem where the client reported severe performance degradation of their OLAP system. Most of the reports that were running were either timing out or were returning data after a long time. The problem started right after the client had undergone an upgrade, that included the following, Software change, that includes […]
A Toolbox Every DBA Should Have
As a DBA it is important to have a toolbox that supports the work you do. You need to have a toolbox that allows you to work smarter instead of harder. Read on to learn about some key tools every DBA should have in their toolbox!
Controlling how SQL Prompt Formats your Code: The Knobs and Dials
Phil Factor explores and discusses the current state of the art in SQL Formatting, as done automatically by SQL Prompt.
Blogs
VPN + SQL Server Connections: Why Long-Working Setups Suddenly Fail with Msg 10054 and “Connection Broken”
By Tim Radney
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been contacted by multiple customers experiencing the same...
Future IT Roles – Agentic Architect and AI Boom!!
By Vinay Thakur
These days everything is changing to AI World, IT roles are getting changed and...
Free Webinar about Columnstore Indexes
I’m doing a small series on indexing basics for SQL Server, and on May...
Forums
SPAM Issues May 2026
We suffered a SPAM attack from May 1-6, which unfortunately corresponded with time off...
SQL Password enforcing
Hi to all We have situation at a client where someone is illegally changing...
SQL Password enforcing
Hi to all We have situation at a client where someone is illegally changing...
Question of the Day
Creating a JSON Document III
I have this data in a table called dbo.NFLTeams
TeamID TeamName City YearEstablished ------ -------- ---- --------------- 1 Cowboys Dallas 1960 2 Eagles Philadelphia 1933 3 Packers Green Bay 1919 4 Chiefs Kansas City 1960 5 49ers San Francisco 1946 6 Broncos Denver 1960 7 Seahawks Seattle 1976 8 Patriots New England 1960If I run this code, how many rows are returned?
SELECT TOP 2
json_objectagg('Team' : TeamName)
FROM dbo.NFLTeams;
See possible answers