Tips for Better Presentations
Brent Ozar gives some advice to those of you who give presentations to user groups and conferences.
The Road to Better Data Handling
As data becomes more valuable and regulations require safer processing, it is important we become more careful in our daily work.
What’s the Difference Between PERCENT_RANK and CUME_DIST?
Learn a bit about the different results you get from the PERCENT_RANK and CUME_DIST aggregate functions.
How can we close the tech skills gap?
One of the most profound challenges faced by technology companies today is talent. According to the latest Harvey Nash survey, 65% of CIOs believe that a shortage of tech skills is affecting their ability to respond to change.
Improving Tech with Compassionate Code
There is quite a bit of suffering within tech and caused by tech, from poorly commented code to shaming someone who asks a question on a forum. In this article, Samuel Nitsche explains why compassionate coding is a better way to go.
Collect SQL Server Index Usage Information for all Instances with PowerShell
In this tip we look at a PowerShell script you can use to collect index information for all of your SQL Server instances that you manage.
Data breach notifications don’t need to be scary
Ever since the GDPR was introduced, the subject of data breach notifications has worried a lot of people. How do you write one? What do you need to include? What will the ramifications be? Will it make your customers run for the hills? Will it get you fired?
All flash vs adaptive flash storage - which is right for my organisation?
Many data professionals might not worry about hardware, but someone needs to watch for changes and improvements in technology. Learn about how flash storage technology has changed and how this might be useful if you still need to build a fast database server.
Spread the Word about Basic Security
This week we have a few back to the basics security comments from Steve.
Blogs
Advice I Like: Pyramid Schemes
By Steve Jones
If someone is trying to convince you it’s not a pyramid scheme, it’s a...
Using Prompt AI for a Travel Data Analysis
By Steve Jones
I was looking back at my year and decided to see if SQL Prompt...
FinOps for Kubernetes: Leveraging OpenCost, KubeGreen, and Kubecost for Cost Efficiency
In the era of cloud-native applications, Kubernetes has become the default standard platform for...
Forums
Database file shrink issue.
Hi experts, I have a 3+ TB database on a 2019 sql server which...
The North Star for the Year
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The North Star for the...
Multiple Escape Characters
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Multiple Escape Characters
Question of the Day
Multiple Escape Characters
In SQL Server 2025, I run this code (in a database with the appropriate collation):
SELECT UNISTR('%*3041%*308A%*304C%*3068 and good night', '%*') AS 'A Classic';
What is returned? See possible answers