DevOps at Microsoft
Microsoft has dramatically changed the way they develop software, in a very public way, as Steve Jones notes.
PowerShell Solutions - Several tips for daily tasks
In this tip, we will talk about PowerShell and SQL Server Log and Data Files.
PowerShell Desired State Configuration: DSC Resources
Desired State Configuration (DSC) allows you to automate the way that you manage configuration data for software services as well as the environment in which these services run. DSC uses a set of built-in and custom 'resources' as the building blocks for a configuration. If you have specific requirements you may need to create the relevant resource to make the configuration happen. Nicolas Prigent provides a practical guide to DSC resources.
Don't tell the boss
Why would I want the boss to be able to see so easily every little bad thing that happens on my servers? Grant Fritchey offers a few reasons...
The Black Boxes
The world of machine learning and artificial intelligence are growing. Steve Jones notes this means we need to decide if we can trust the black boxes.
Expanding the uses of DBCC CLONEDATABASE
Erin Stellato goes into detail about some practical use cases for a new DBCC command in SQL Server 2014 SP2 : DBCC CLONEDATABASE.
What Helps You Learn?
This Friday Steve Jones looks to find out what things help people learn and build skills more readily.
Querying Multiple MySQL Tables
It’s been said that one of the drawbacks to normalization to the third form (3NF) is more cumbersome data extraction due to the greater number of tables. These require careful linking via JOIN clauses. Improper table joining can easily result in erroneous results or even in the dreaded Cartesian Product. In today’s article, Rob Gravelle explores how table joins are achieved in MySQL.
Capture the Flag
A competition among software bots may foretell a vision of the future for software developers.
Monitor up-time and connectivity with Powershell
Use Powershell to troubleshoot SQL connectivity issues. A way to monitor up-time and connectivity of a SQL server database with some simple Powershell commands.
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