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Still More SQL Server Features that Time Forgot

As the final entry in this series, Robert Sheldon leads you through a group of forgotten features that have been removed from recent versions of SQL Server. In some cases, the features were widely used and often loved, while others had lost their usefulness over the years or were replaced with something much better. In this article, he remembers Data Transformation Services (DTS), a handful of DBCC commands, a few utilities, Active Directory Helper Service, English Query, Web Assistant, SQL Mail, Native XML Web Services, Notification Services, SQL Distributed Management Objects, Surface Area Configuration Tool, and the Pubs and Northwind databases.

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Understanding Migration from SQL Server to SQL Server 2017 using Data Migration Assistant

You can use the Data Migration Assistant (DMA) tool to migrate your SQL Server instance to an on-premise SQL Server 2017 or to Azure SQL Database. DMA analyzes data migration issues and provides recommendations to resolve them. Read on learn about the features of DMA and how DMA eases your SQL Server instance migration as well as reduces overall risks, allowing you to complete the migration successfully.

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Question of the Day

Encoding URLs

I have this data in a SQL Server 2025 table:

CREATE TABLE Response
( ResponseID INT NOT NULL CONSTRAINT ResponsePK PRIMARY KEY
, ResponseVal VARBINARY(5000)
)
GO
If I want to get a value from this table that I can add to a URL in a browser, which of these code items produces a result I can use?

See possible answers