Vector search in SQL Server: VECTOR_DISTANCE, VECTOR_SEARCH, and index trade-offs
Learn how to use VECTOR_DISTANCE and VECTOR_SEARCH in SQL Server to find semantically similar data.
A Security and AI Fail
Security is an important consideration for anyone working with data, but it's especially a concern with AI.
How Clustering can be Used as a Preprocessing Technique for Classification in Azure Machine Learning
Learn about using classification as a technique to prepare your data for additional machine learning analysis.
Confession Time: I Never Taught You About B-Trees.
I work with databases for a living. I teach people, and I help them via consulting. And as far as I can remember, I’ve never written something about how b-trees work.
It’s 2026. Why are databases still failing GDPR compliance audits?
This article examines three recurring database-layer failures documented in the EDPB’s 2026 enforcement findings: the complexity of executing erasure across relational schemas, the backup paradox that can silently undo compliant deletions, and the audit log contradiction that traps organizations between two competing obligations.
Forward Deployed Engineers
A new job title, the forward deployed engineer, is becoming more popular.
TRY_PARSE vs TRY_CONVERT in SQL Server: From Basics to Practical Usage
This article shows how the TRY_PARSE() and TRY_CONVERT() functions can be used to handle data quality issues and ensure that your software continues to function without throwing errors.
Understanding Deadlock Victim Selection in SQL Server
A short introduction to how deadlocks work and how you can affect their behavior inside your system.
SSRS Reminded Me of the Time Microsoft Retired TMG
Reading that SQL Server 2025 shipped without SSRS took me back to 2012, when Microsoft announced end-of-life for TMG — our perimeter firewall, web proxy, and SSL inspection. It had run quietly for years until it suddenly needed a plan. Within weeks, vendors found us. Demos, a steering committee, a three-month project plan. We weren't […]
I Can't Make You Learn
Steve believes that his career and life have become better as he learns more everything. It's the key to improvement.
Blogs
Demo for Parameter Sniffing and Memory Grant Feedback
Disclaimer: The following is built with Claude Code. Just need to justify my $100/mo...
My Social Media Rules
By Brian Kelley
I developed these rules a while back, before COVID. I had a period of...
Why Use TRY_PARSE(): #SQLNewBlogger
By Steve Jones
Someone asked why I would use TRY_PARSE after I posted a question at SQL...
Forums
Partitioning a table with TEXTIMAGE_ON option
I have a table that ends in ON [PRIMARY] TEXTIMAGE_ON [PRIMARY]. I'm about to...
OUTER APPLY Fundamentals: Part 2
Comments posted to this topic are about the item OUTER APPLY Fundamentals: Part 2
Building Great Software
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Building Great Software
Question of the Day
The Range of Customers
I have this data in the OrderHeader table in a SQL Server 2025 database (ordered by CustomerID ASC):
orderid orderdate customerid complete 3 2025-05-10 00:00:00.0002 1 21 2024-01-10 00:00:00.0003 1 15 2023-10-28 00:00:00.0004 1 13 2025-03-08 00:00:00.0006 1 11 2024-04-02 00:00:00.0007 1If I run this query, how many rows are returned?
SELECT * from dbo.OrderHeader where customerid between 3 and '6'See possible answers