From Rows to Pages: The Hidden Chaos Behind SQL Server’s Sampling Methods
Learn about the TABLESAMPLE option in T-SQL and uncover some of the pitfalls of assuming this works as you think it does.
Your Favorite Improvement
This Friday Steve asks about what you're looking forward to in SQL Server 2025, if anything.
Long Short-Term Memory Network for Machine Learning
While Recurrent Neural Networks (RNN) are powerful, they often struggle with long-term dependencies due to the vanishing gradient problem. Long Short-Term Memory Networks (LSTMs) address this issue by introducing memory cells and gates. For beginners, understanding LSTM components, such as the input, output, and forget gates, can be challenging. This tip breaks down LSTMs in an intuitive way, highlighting their importance and practical applications.
Can You Ask for a Raise?
Asking for a raise is a scary event for many employees. Today Steve gives you a few things to think about and some advice on how to go about changing your job.
Contained Availability Groups in SQL Server 2022
SQL Server 2022 introduced a new feature called Contained Availability Groups. It allows the Database Administrators to effectively manage the Server Level objects, such as Logins, SQL Agent jobs, etc. in an HA environment. In today's article, we will learn about this new feature of SQL Server. The Challenge of Managing Server Objects in Availability […]
13 Things I wish I knew about Power Query (when I first started)
When I first started with Power Query, it was in Excel, through the Power Pivot feature. I was amazed at how I could transform data with just a few clicks and quickly create PivotTables. Then, when Power Query appeared in Power BI, I began working with larger data sources and more complex projects.
Building a Database Dashboard with SSRS
Learn how to create a dynamic database dashboard that tracks key metrics using SQL Server Reporting Services. From setting up to deploying your report.
The Next Great Thing
Is AI going to kill off a lot of data professional jobs? Steve doesn't think so, but judge for yourself.
Split strings by Regular Expressions in SQL Server 2025
SQL Server users have been asking for native regular expression support for over two decades. There are third-party Common Language Runtime (CLR) modules that offer this functionality, but these can be complicated to install and simply aren’t possible in some environments. I want to split a string using a regular expression instead of a static string. Will that be possible in SQL Server 2025, without CLR?
Using Ollama on Windows 11 as an Alternative to Public LLMs
In my ongoing war against shadow AI, I’ve been testing out alternatives that most everyone can use, no matter what your technical expertise. Although somewhat limited depending on your resources available, (laptop CPU/GPU, memory, etc.) If you want to try the newest open models without sending your prompts to the cloud, or you just want […]
Blogs
Scaling PowerShell – Lessons from a Technical Interview
By gbargsley
Recently, I was in a technical interview where the topic of running PowerShell at...
Installing Old Versions of PowerShell Modules with Their Dependencies
By alevyinroc
I don’t recall where this came up (probably in SQLSlack), but I had a...
In Memory of Andrew Clarke, AKA Phil Factor
By Steve Jones
One of the parts of getting older that really sucks is I seem to...
Forums
SQL Server, Heaps and Fragmentation
Comments posted to this topic are about the item SQL Server, Heaps and Fragmentation
taking the rcsi dive
Hi, we put together an extract that runs every 15 minutes against what i...
Parameter Sensitive Plan Optimization in SQL Server 2022
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Parameter Sensitive Plan Optimization in...
Question of the Day
SQL Server, Heaps and Fragmentation
A table without a clustered index (heap) will NOT suffer from fragmentation during frequent updates or deletes. True or False?
See possible answers