DR Prep Can Miss the Little Things
A minor disaster for Steve reveals some cracks in his pre-DR planning.
Empty Thoughts: Working with NULL
Whether or not to have NULLable columns in a table can be a religious debate, and how missing data is represented should be carefully considered during database design. In this article, Joe Celko considers the ways that SQL Server handles NULLs in several situations.
Learn More than Technology
There is more to our lives than work, and Steve asks that we learn more about other parts of life.
Using SQL Server and R Services for analyzing Sales data (Part 3)
Using R integration for analyzing sales data in WideWorldImporters database
Which Version of SQL Server Should You Use?
Wait! Before you install that next SQL Server, hold up. Are you sure you’re using the right version?
Forgiveness
Learning active forgiveness can be a challenge, but it may help you build a better team.
Protecting SQL Server Data Using Static Data Masking
In order to protect data and comply with regulations such as the GDPR and HIPAA, databases used by developers and testers must not contain private and sensitive data from production databases. To help DBAs protect data, Microsoft have released a new feature as part of SSMS called Static Data Masking. In this article, Greg Larsen demonstrates how to use this new feature.
Complex Constrained Security
Setting up your authorization and security can be fairly easy, but perhaps we ought to consider more complex scenarios.
Import data dynamically using R and Python in Power BI Desktop
Learn how to import data into Power BI using either R or Python scripts.
DR Planning
Disaster recovery planning can be hard, and we often forget about some of the non technical issues.
Blogs
Who Are You Doing It For?
By Brian Kelley
But as I've matured over the years, I came to realize that I needed...
Presenting Twice in May 2026
By alevyinroc
I will be presenting my latest session, Documenting Your Work for Worry-Free Vacations, in-person...
Finding the Next Sequence Value: #SQLNewBlogger
By Steve Jones
I saw a question asking about the next sequence value and decided to try...
Forums
DB Design Methods
I've read a few posts regarding what we use to design DB models and...
Auto Update Statistics not triggering on filtered indexes
I've got a table with 186,703,969 rows, about 300GB of data. There are several...
What is the difference between SQL Server and SQL Database?
I created a SQL Database in Azure Portal but I've just noticed it also...
Question of the Day
An Unusual Identity
What values are returned when I run this code?
CREATE TABLE dbo.IdentityTest2
(
id NUMERIC(10,0) IDENTITY(10,10) PRIMARY KEY,
somevalue VARCHAR(20)
)
GO
INSERT dbo.IdentityTest2
(
somevalue
)
VALUES
( 'Steve')
, ('Bill')
GO
SELECT top 10
id
FROM dbo.IdentityTest2 See possible answers