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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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Summarizing Data Using the GROUPING SETS Operator

Writing aggregate queries is one of the most important tasks for anyone working with T-SQL. Determining the expressions required in the GROUP BY clause is not that difficult, but what do you do if you need to include different combinations of group by expressions in the same result set? Alfonso demonstrates how to use the GROUPING SETS operator to accomplish this task.

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As of June 2026, what is the best version of TLS to use with SQL Server?

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