DBAs Need to Learn to Develop
SQL Server is growing as a platform and Steve Jones says that DBAs need to learn development skills.
Generate Deadlock Summary Information
This article will show you how to extract a summary of tables affected by deadlocks.
A Big Deal : SQL Server 2016 Service Pack 1
Microsoft has made a bold change with SQL Server 2016 Service Pack 1 : Many Enterprise features are now available in lower editions. Read on for details.
Creating SSRS Tabular Reports with Sparklines and Charts
Learn how to add a sparkline and line chart to your SQL Server 2014 Reporting Services reports.
The Five Year Plan
Is your IT department outdated? There's a prediction that they won't be around in five years. Steve Jones doesn't agree.
Your Professional Development and the PASS Organization
There are so many ways of keeping your technical skills and knowledge up-to-date. There are books, articles, conferences, video courses and so on, but nothing beats discussion and debate with professional people in other organisations facing a similar range of technical challenges, some of which you share, and others you maybe haven't yet. PASS is unique in providing just this vital ingredient for database professionals using the Microsoft Data Stack.
The One Metric to Rule Them All
Measuring the performance of systems isn't always just CPU, RAM, and Disk IO. Today Steve Jones looks at business based metrics.
Some Tips for Minimising the Pain of HTML Input Forms
HTML Input forms are, by their nature, tiresome for the user of any website. However, with some attention to detail and a dash of JavaScript, it is possible to reduce the drudgery of form-filling to the minimum and minimise mistakes. Dino explains four ways of making things better for the user of your website.
Troubleshooting a painful query using execution plans in SQL Monitor
When something's wrong with your database you need to be able to identify the primary pain points within SQL Server and get to the root cause of the problem fast. Grant Fritchey explains how you can use execution plans inside SQL Monitor to help quickly and simply identify the problem.
Blogs
Microsoft Build 2026 announcements
By James Serra
Once again there were a number of Microsoft Build announcements related to data and...
T-SQL Tuesday #199: Roundup
A good week ago I hosted the monthly T-SQL Tuesday blog party. I invited...
No Shortcuts for the SQLCMD Batch Terminator: #SQLNewBlogger
By Steve Jones
I was messing around with SQLCMD and I realized something I hadn’t known. I’ve...
Forums
Increment a number in a SQL Query based on a value
I have an issue where I have a Bill of Material list of items...
Follow Your Hunch
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Follow Your Hunch
What Happens When You Ask a Local AI to Query Your Database?
Comments posted to this topic are about the item What Happens When You Ask...
Question of the Day
Detecting Characters
I have a SQL Server 2022 English default installation on a server. I want to detect if there are any upper case characters in rows and I have this code:
SELECT CustomerNameID,
CustomerName
FROM dbo.CustomerName
WHERE CustomerName = LOWER(CustomerName)
Here is the sample data I am testing with:
CustomerNameID CustomerName 1 John Smith 2 Sarah Johnson 3 MICHAEL WILLIAMS 4 JENNIFER BROWN 5 david jones 6 emily davis 7 Robert Miller 8 LISA WILSON 9 christopher moore 10 Amanda TaylorHow many rows are returned? See possible answers