What to Do When You Get a “Cache is Out of Date” Error Message
Greg Larsen shows how to fix the “cache is out of date” error message when SQL Server Management Studio starts up.
A well-earned break from the database
Databases, like sheep, get get into some surprising scrapes. However, as long as you've planned for all the common mishaps, your conscience should be clear to take a well-earned holiday.
SQL Saturday statistics – Web Scraping with R and SQL Server
Tom wants to check a simple query: How many times has a particular topic been presented and from how many different presenters.
Bones of SQL - The Calendar Table
This article introduces the concept of the Calendar table to SQL newcomers and illustrates use of a few columns they might not have imagined.
Implied Predicate and Partition Elimination
Erik Darling's delighted to see that SQL Server does some creative partition elimination.
The Pressure to Perform
Steve Jones wonders how things might be different is developers were treated more like salespeople with quotas.
Dynamic Data Masking on Azure SQL Database
Azure SQL Database’s Dynamic Data Masking (DDM) feature limits the exposure of sensitive information to non-privileged users. DDM can mask either the full value or partial value in a column. This method can also mask Social Security and Credit Card Numbers without making any changes to the application.
Avoiding Development Taxes
Anytime we adopt a new technology, framework, platform, language, etc., we will pay a tax in development output.
Blogs
Learn Better: Pause to Review More
By Brian Kelley
If you want to learn better, pause more in your learning to intentionally review.
Azure SQL Managed Instance Next-Gen: Bring on the IOPS
By John
If you’ve used Azure SQL Managed Instance General Purpose, you know the drill: to...
SQL, MDX, DAX – the languages of data
By DataOnWheels
Ramblings of a retired data architect Let me start by saying that I have...
Forums
Two foreign keys to the same table. Can't cascade deletes.
Not sure if this is really a relational theory question but it seems about...
Connecting Power BI to SSAS and effective user not working
Hi everyone, Below is a consolidated summary of what we validated Architecture & data...
High Availability setup - has anyone seen this method?
Hi all, I recently moved to a new employer who have their HA setup...
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) ) GOIf 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