Book Review: Database Reliability Engineering by Campbell & Majors
Brent Ozar explains why DBAs should read this book about the future of database administration at scale.
A Christmas Bug
A bug in American Airlines scheduling could impact travelers, but certainly will impact their bottom line.
The Appearance of the Flat File Wizard.
After many barren years, Phil Factor is pleased to see the first signs of Spring in SSMS.
Importing JSON Data from Web Services and Applications into SQL Server
To support many applications, it makes sense for the database to work with JSON data, because it is the built-in way for a JavaScript or TypeScript application to represent object data. It can mean less network traffic, looser coupling, and less need for the application developer to require full access to the base tables of the database. However, it means that the database must do plenty of checks first before importing. Phil Factor explains how it can be easily done.
Even More SQL Server Features that Time Forgot
SQL Server works well, and Microsoft does everything it can to keep it relevant and competitive: As with everything in real life, it doesn't don't always get it completely right, and Rob Sheldon continues his quest through the jungle of past features to rediscover and explore the ones that time forgot. Here, he comes across Lightweight Pooling, XML Indexes, Stretch Databases, SQL Variants, Transaction Savepoints and In-Memory OLTP.
Certifying Schools
Schools don't necessarily teach people how to code, but they could do a better job.
Free Database Unit-Testing Framework for SQL Server
Learn how to implement an advanced and cost-effective database unit-testing framework with tSQLt in SQL Server Management Studio.
Stairway to DAX and Power BI - Level 12: Function / Iterator Function Pairs: The DAX CountA() and CountAX() Functions
Business Intelligence Architect, Analysis Services Maestro, eight-year Microsoft Data Platform MVP and author Bill Pearson introduces the DAX CountA() and CountAX() functions, discussing the syntax, uses and operation of each. He then provides hands-on exposure to CountA() and CountAX(), in counting non-empty cells in a column, and in counting nonblank results when evaluating the result of an expression over a table, respectively.
Simple SQL: Handling Location Datatypes
How do you record locations in SQL? Most relational database systems support spatial and geographical data, generally using the round-earth system based on the SQL specification of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC). However, this is not the only approach, as Joe Celko explains.
Blogs
Car Update September 2026
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Microsoft Tools for Making Data AI-Ready
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Making Data AI-Ready, Part 2 (This is the second article in a three-part series...
Local Models Using GPUs with Ollama
By Steve Jones
Can you use your GPUs when running a local model under Ollama? You can,...
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