Ignoring Database Version Control
Steve Jones thinks version control is important, even for databases.
Teaching a dog to sing
To survive the inevitable downturns in the IT industry, Phil Factor argues that a IT manager needs to take time to maintain technical skills. It is not enough to understand development; you have to be able to do it.
Real-time Operational Analytics in SQL Server 2016 - Part 1
Arshad Ali takes a look at traditional analytics architecture, the challenges it faces, and how the newly introduced Real-time Operational Analytics feature overcomes those challenges.
A Case FOR Cursors...
We've all heard that definitive statement: "Avoid using cursors." But, in my opinion, what really should be conveyed is: "Avoid using row-by-row operations when possible."
Impressive Accomplishments
What things impress you most about potential candidates. This week Steve Jones asks the question to try and understand what types of activities data professionals might consider.
How to tell what SQL Server version you are running
Gerg Robidoux demonstrates a couple of methods for determining which version of SQL Server you're running, as well as what service pack or hotfix is installed.
Azure SQL Database – How to Choose the Right Service Tier
So you've decided to use Azure SQL Database. You head for the portal and are suddenly faced with a number of questions. Sure, the choices you make have a number of repercussions, but what are they? Murilo Miranda provides a simple guide to get started.
Practicing Deployments
Amateurs practice until they can get something right. Professionals practice until they don't get things wrong. How should we handle our deployments?
Introduction to SQL Server Stretch Database
In many cases Azure SQL Database offers an economically and functionally viable alternative to SQL Server deployments. However, there are also scenarios where we might discover that rather than serving as a replacement, it provides synergy, working side by side with your on-premises databases. One of technologies that illustrate this paradigm is Stretch Database, introduced in SQL Server 2016. Marcin Polichtdescribes its basic characteristics and reviews its implementation steps in this article.
Resolving an Error When Creating an Availability Group Listener
In this post, I’m going to talk an issue that I found when creating an availability group listener by using SQL Server Management Studio's Add Listener. This article helps you to resolve the issue.
Blogs
Programmatically Retrieving MLV Lineage and Refresh Times
Materialized lake views (MLVs) in Microsoft Fabric are an effective way to implement medallion...
Upgrading SQL Server Containers on the Laptop
By Steve Jones
I don’t have SQL Server installed on my laptop. In an effort to keep...
Forums
Having Issue deploying a report to an on prem server from PowerBI desktop
Using PowerBI Version1.25.9508.3237(January 2026). Installed Microsoft Power BI Desktop (Optimized for Power BI Report...
SQL 2019 instance with AG, across 2 Windows 2016 OS servers - OSin-place upgrade
Hi all Can I get some perspective from the community please on performing in-place...
How Long is a Long I/O?
Comments posted to this topic are about the item How Long is a Long...
Question of the Day
How Long is a Long I/O?
In SQL Server 2025, a long I/O is recorded in the error log with message 833. How long much an I/O request be outstanding before this message is written to the log?
See possible answers