SQL and Scope
Understanding scoping rules is a basic skill for developers. In this article, Joe Celko gives a bit of the history of scoping in early programming languages and shows how scoping applies to SQL queries as well.
Where SQL Server monitoring fits into your tech stack
This article explains the basic components of a tech stack, and the decisions and requirements that affect how and where monitoring tools generally, and a specialist SQL Server monitoring tool like SQL Monitor, in particular, fit into your stack.
Databases in Azure… Where to begin? Create a Database and log in!
Ready to create your first Database in Azure. Here are the step by step instructions with plenty of definitions and terms.
The K8s Overview
Kubernetes is a technology Steve thinks will be important in the future and knowing a bit more about it can be important for your career.
Troubleshoot Slow RDS SQL Servers with Performance Insights
In this article we look at using AWS Performance Insights to help monitor and troubleshoot SQL Server performance issues when running on RDS.
Digging into Azure SQL Database Hyperscale Edition
This article will look deeper at the Azure SQL Database - Hyperscale edition, which was moved into General Availability (GA) in May 2019. This followed a bit of a preview time, when I first learned about how it worked in detail. I was impressed with the work being done, some of which will make it […]
Automating Schema Comparisons with SQL Compare Projects and PowerShell
Your PowerShell process for database comparison and deployment is running smoothly, and your instinct is to 'leave well alone'. However, you continually need to delve into the script to tweak comparison settings or add a new command line switch. Phil Factor proposes a way to avoid this using SQL Compare projects.
Introduction to the Partition By Window Function
Window functions can be life savers by making a complicated SQL calculation easy. A window function combines that logic and provides row by row or window by window feedback. Read on to learn more!
Losing The Security Game
Losing the security game is no fun when data is involved. Steve points out some things you should be doing.
Modular ETL Architecture Design in SSIS
Overview of ETL Architecture In a data warehouse, one of the main parts of the entire system is the ETL process. ETL is the system that reads data from the source system, transforms the data according to the business logic, and finally loads it into the warehouse. While fetching data from the sources can seem […]
Blogs
Automatic Index Compaction
By ReviewMyDB
Index maintenance has always meant nightly jobs and a window you have to defend....
The Goldilocks problem – Materialized Views
I’m sure you’ve all heard the tale of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, but...
Monday Monitor Tips: Virtual Machine Usage and Cost
By Steve Jones
One of the things I’ve been requesting for a number of years is cost...
Forums
SQL Art, Part 4: Happy 4th of July — A British DBA's Guide to Celebrating a War We Don't Talk About
Comments posted to this topic are about the item SQL Art, Part 4: Happy...
How We Handled a Vendor Retry That Loaded Twice in Snowflake
Comments posted to this topic are about the item How We Handled a Vendor...
Cognitive Coverage
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Cognitive Coverage
Question of the Day
Getting the Average
I have this data in the dbo.Commission table in a SQL Server 2022 database.
salesperson commission Brian 12 Brian 16 Andy 7 Andy 14 Andy 21 Steve 20 Steve NULLAll the data is a varchar, and I decide to run this query to get the totals for each salesperson.
SELECT SalesPerson
, AVG(TRY_PARSE(Commission AS int)) AS TotalCommission
FROM commission
GROUP BY SalesPerson
GO
What average commission is calculated for Steve? See possible answers