Every index has a matching statistic with the same name, and each statistic is a single 8KB page of metadata that describes the contents of your indexes. Stats have been around (and been mostly the same) for forever, so this is one of the places where SQL Server’s documentation really shines: Books Online has a ton of information about statistics. You honestly don’t need to know most of that – but if you wanna make a living performance tuning, there’s a ton of great stuff in there.

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Managing 100s of business-critical servers across multiple continents became a struggle for BMW. SQL Monitor provided a fast and powerful solution that allowed them to scale to their business needs. Availability has since increased to 100% and doubled the speed of delivery. Learn how here.

Stairway to Biml Level 1: What is Biml?

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SQLServerCentral.com

An introduction to the Biml language from Andy Leonard that helps

The Conference Springboard

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SQLServerCentral

Career Growth

The period after a conference is a good time to start driving yourself forward.

Redgate’s journey to DevOps

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At Redgate, we research DevOps, write articles, whitepapers and other content about DevOps, and talk a lot about DevOps. We actively encourage our customers to introduce database DevOps too, using our portfolio of database development solutions. But here’s the thing. We don’t do it to sell software. We do it because we believe in it. Reda on to find out why.

SQL Server Function to Measure CPU Usage Per Database

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MSSQLTips.com

CPU Usage Data

Performance | CPU Usage | T-SQL Script - In this article we look at a script that can be used to show CPU usage by SQL Server database to get an idea which databases are consuming the most CPU on your server.

It Just Works

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Access

Access won't die, and Steve doesn't necessarily think it should.

Understanding Outer Joins in SQL

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SQLServerCentral

Outer Joins

The basics of outer joins are shown in this short piece that explains how they work.

Associating Data Directly with SQL Server Database Objects.

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It is easy to attach details and documentation to a SQL Server database using extended properties. In fact, you can add a number of items of information to any database objects such as tables, views, procedures or users.

SQL Prompt 10: What’s New?

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SQL PROMPT

Tony Davis reviews the major new features of SQL Prompt 10, included improved 'ranking' of its code auto-completion suggestions, tab history improvements to make it easier to find 'lost' code, and auto-fixing of code that breaks code analysis rules.

How to Think Like the SQL Server Engine: Using Statistics to Build Query Plans

Large estate monitoring at BMW

Stairway to Biml Level 1: What is Biml?

The Conference Springboard

Redgate’s journey to DevOps

SQL Server Function to Measure CPU Usage Per Database

It Just Works

Understanding Outer Joins in SQL

Associating Data Directly with SQL Server Database Objects.

SQL Prompt 10: What’s New?

Blogs

Who Are You Doing It For?

Presenting Twice in May 2026

Finding the Next Sequence Value: #SQLNewBlogger

Forums

A Fun Computer Quote

DB Design Methods

Auto Update Statistics not triggering on filtered indexes

Question of the Day

A Fun Computer Quote