Is SQL Server Mature?
This Friday Steve Jones is wondering if the SQL Server platform does the job well enough for most people, or are there holes that need to be filled with new features.
SQL Authentication Via AD Groups Part II: Who has what access?
In a previous article, we discussed how to liberate the DBA from SQL Logins with AD Groups. A good point was raised: How can the DBA know who has what access? Here is a solution.
Interpreting Missing Index Recommendations
Pinal Dave explains how missing index hints are like restaurant appetizers.
Handling Inconvenient Requests
Brad gives a little guidance on how you might want to respond to inconvenient requests with an eye on doing yourself a favor.
Using a Derived Table to Compare Data with Values from a Previous Year
Comparing year on year sales is a fundamental requirement in much commercial analysis - here you learn how to do this in SQL
Understanding your Azure EA Billing Data and Building a Centralized Data Storage Solution
Many organizations are moving to Azure and other cloud providers. Understanding how resources are being used and what is spent is very important. In this article, Feodor explains his solution for automating the collection of the Enterprise Agreement billing from Azure into an Azure SQL Database where it can be analyzed.
CI and CD Aren't Magic
The techniques for Continuous Integration (CI) and Continuous Delivery (CD) don't make software better by themselves. It takes some investment and work by your staff as well.
Rolling up multiple rows into a single row and column for SQL Server data
Do you need a way to roll-up multiple rows into one row and one column. You know you can roll-up multiple rows into one row using Pivot, but you need all of the data concatenated into a single column in a single row. this tip looks at a simple approach to accomplish this.
Finding a String Anywhere in Another String
Optimize searching for a string within another string with this string storage and indexing technique.
Have You Been Hacked?
Security is a big deal, and Steve Jones wonders if most data professionals would be aware that they had been hacked.
Blogs
Future IT Roles – Agentic Architect and AI Boom!!
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Forums
SPAM Issues May 2026
We suffered a SPAM attack from May 1-6, which unfortunately corresponded with time off...
SQL Password enforcing
Hi to all We have situation at a client where someone is illegally changing...
SQL Password enforcing
Hi to all We have situation at a client where someone is illegally changing...
Question of the Day
Creating a JSON Document III
I have this data in a table called dbo.NFLTeams
TeamID TeamName City YearEstablished ------ -------- ---- --------------- 1 Cowboys Dallas 1960 2 Eagles Philadelphia 1933 3 Packers Green Bay 1919 4 Chiefs Kansas City 1960 5 49ers San Francisco 1946 6 Broncos Denver 1960 7 Seahawks Seattle 1976 8 Patriots New England 1960If I run this code, how many rows are returned?
SELECT TOP 2
json_objectagg('Team' : TeamName)
FROM dbo.NFLTeams;
See possible answers