Problems With Database Problems
The GitLab crisis has Steve Jones thinking about two things: competence and care.
The Second Career
From a well-built cockney who knew how to avoid wheel clamps, to an ex-member of an elite anti-riot unit, some of the best DBAs have a surprising diversity of skills and experiences, according to Phil Factor.
How to Build Your First SQL Server Virtual Lab in Windows Azure
If you are a DBA who hasn't so far dived in head-first into using Azure, it is worth setting up an Azure 'Virtual Lab' environment the easy way, using a template. This will then allow you to experiment, try things out with SQL Azure, and get familiar with Resource Groups. Joshua shows how to build a virtual lab, from the ground up in the first of a series that aims to give you a grounding in Azure.
Moving Through Five Years
An updated editorial. The five years are almost up for the prediction that IT departments would be eliminated. Read Steve Jones thoughts on where we are today.
Query Performance Tuning – A Methodical Approach
Learn how to approach performance tuning in this piece from SQL Server MCM and MVP, Gail Shaw.
Wildcard Searches
Using wildcard to find patterns in strings going from the basics to some more complicated conditions.
Reconciling Data Across Systems Using a Reconciliation Hub
In many enterprises, where there are a number of separate systems engaged in processing data, there arises the daunting task of checking and reconciling data as it flows between systems. Discrepancies in data must be detected, tracked and corrected as quickly as possible: there is no room for error in doing this. A Reconciliation Hub can provide the answer, as Rahul Gupta explains.
Fix Commvault Backup Failures After an Upgrade
In this article, you will learn how to troubleshoot backup failures in SQL Server 2016 when you run using commvault backup tool
Why Devops? For Better Security
DevOps is supposed to help us build better software, faster. Steve Jones looks at one of the other benefits: security.
How Incorrect SQL Server Table Statistic Estimates Can Cause Slow Query Execution
Ben Snaidero explains that if you are updating your SQL Server table statistics nightly, but still seeing occasional poor performance with some of the queries being executed against my database, statistics could be the issue.
Blogs
Why Database AI Agents need Layers?
By Arun Sirpal
Third part in my Ai series with databases. When building AI solutions within the...
Un-Migrating From the Cloud: T-SQL Tuesday #199
By Steve Jones
This month we have a very interesting invitation from Koen Verbeeck. He has hosted...
T-SQL Tuesday #199: Back to the on-prem
It’s the second tuesday of the month, which means T-SQL Tuesday time! This month’s...
Forums
How Do the Experts Become Experts?
Comments posted to this topic are about the item How Do the Experts Become...
Stairway to Reliable Database Deployments Level 4 – Preparing for Production Deployment
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Stairway to Reliable Database Deployments...
Secure Communications
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Secure Communications
Question of the Day
Secure Communications
As of June 2026, what is the best version of TLS to use with SQL Server?
See possible answers