De-normalize database schema using JSON
Jovan Popovic talks about transforming complex relational structures into simpler tables using JSON format.
IT Data Governance and the Insider Job
Good IT data governance is about crime-prevention as well as crime-detection. Legal action runs war a close second as being one of the more futile and debilitating of human activities, so prevention is always better.
The Office
Would you be more productive outside of an office? Would you take a pay cut to work outside of an office? Steve Jones notes that a number of IT professionals said they would.
The SQL of the Feast Days of Western Christendom
Phil Factor's newest SQL expression calculates when all the feasts and saints days are, giving you plenty of potential causes for celebration.
Copy a database between servers with one command
This tool is a helper for your daily work to copy easily databases between Servers/instances and do all the necessary stuff for you.
Gratitude
Today we have a guest editorial from Erin Stellato that reminds us that we have had support from many, and it's important to thank them from time to time.
The SQL Server 2016 Query Store: Overview and Architecture
SQL Server's Query Store, introduced in SQL Server 2016, helps to troubleshoot query performance by capturing a range of information about query usage, CPU, memory consumption, I/O and execution time, and retaining every Execution Plan for analysis. Much of this information is available through queries. It looks set to be the most significant enhancement of SQL Server 2016 - Enrico van de Laar explores.
What is DevOps?
The DevOps moniker seems to bring together good practices that some companies have followed for years. However lots don't, and today Steve Jones tries to get inspire a few of you to give it a try.
Converting and Formatting Numbers Using the M Language
Power BI designer is based upon the Power Query formula language informally known as "M". Unfortunately, the advanced editor inside the Power BI designer does not support syntax highlighting, meaning it can be easy to make mistakes. Matt Mason shows how you can extend the Notepad++ editor to support this feature.
Rethinking Hiring
Today Steve Jones looks at the problems we have with hiring staff and the troubles we go through. Perhaps we can do better with an investment in our people.
Blogs
Shifting Mindsets: Why FinOps is Essential for Cloud Efficiency
By HeyMo0sh
As a DevOps practitioner, I’ve always focused on performance, scalability, and automation. But as...
March 2026 SQL Server Security Updates
By Brian Kelley
On Patch Tuesday, in addition to OS and Office security patches, Microsoft also released...
How Fabric Mirroring Transformed with SQL Server 2025
When mirroring was first released for Azure SQL Database, it used Change Data Capture...
Forums
Multiple Deployment Processes
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How to Use sqlpackage to Detect Schema Drift Between Azure SQL Databases
Comments posted to this topic are about the item How to Use sqlpackage to...
Upgrading Admin Queries
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Upgrading Admin Queries
Question of the Day
Upgrading Admin Queries
I have a query from a former DBA that we run on SQL Server 2025 to check on database metadata. This query references sys.sysaltfiles. I want to refactor this code to be more modern. Which DMV should I reference instead?
See possible answers