Live Query Plans and Blocking
Erik Darling looks at how SQL Server 2016's live query plans react when they're blocked.
Six Scary SQL Surprises
The working life of the DBA can be punctuated by surprises, but they aren't generally nice surprises. This is especially true if the DBA is not checking and monitoring the databases for obvious things such as database corruption, and disk space. However, the really scary surprises are less obvious and provide fewer warning signs. Brent Ozar gives six scary surprises that can be avoided by the shrewd DBA.
How Far are You Willing To Go To Get Something?
There are important things in life and in our career, how far are you willing to go to get them?
Perspective
I find it extremely easy to sometimes lose sight of the important stuff. The day-to-day grind can seriously get in the way. I think this is a big part of how we find ourselves having so many silly intra-organizational turf wars. The developers don’t like how the DBAs do things. The DBAs are frustrated with […]
Backup SQL Server Databases in Parallel with PowerShell
I have a need to decrease the time my SQL Server database backups are taking to run. I thought about trying to run multiple backups at the same time to see if that would work. I could have created multiple SQL Server Agent Jobs to run at the same time, but I wanted a more dynamic way to handle this, so I created a PowerShell script that allows processes to run in parallel.
Adding Time Intelligence to a Power BI Data Model
In this article I want to provide an introduction to the vital set of functions that help you to use a time element when analyzing data
Physical or Virtual Storage
This week Steve Jones talked about physical hardware, asking who might still pay attention.
Extracting a DAX Query Plan With Analysis Services 2016 Extended Events
In this post, Koen Verbeeck shows how to use SQL Sever 2016's Extended Events to find the query plan for a DAX query, just like you would for a T-SQL statement.
The SQL Server Features that Time Forgot
Every new release of SQL Server comes with new features that cause a ripple of excitement within the industry: well, amongst the marketing people anyway. What happens to all the exciting TLAs that are bandied about when a new version launches? It's mixed, it seems. Adam Machanic's classic post, The SQL Hall of Shame, has inspired Rob Sheldon to look back at some of the features that, though worthy, have may have failed to hit the mainstream.
Blogs
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...
Setting PK Names in Redgate Data Modeler
By Steve Jones
A customer was testing Redgate Data Modeler and complained that it auto-generated PK names....
Forums
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...
Semantic Search in SQL Server 2025
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Semantic Search in SQL Server...
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