Solve Common SQL Server Restore Issues
Understanding backup and restore processes is essential for developers and DBAs to be more confident when dealing with uncommon situations and having the ability to suggest flexible solutions related to these processes. In this article, Sergey Gigoyan answers some key questions relating to backup and restore.
Declarative SQL: Using UNIQUE Constraints
In SQL, you can express the logic of what you want to accomplish without spelling out the details of how the database should do it. Nowhere is this more powerful than in constraints. In this introduction to Declarative SQL, Joe Celko demonstrates how you can write portable code that performs well and executes some complex logic, merely by creating unique constraints.
Security Decisions
This week Steve Jones looks at how we make secutiy decisions for our systems, and whether this is really the best way to do things.
Exploration of SQL Server 2016 Always Encrypted – Part 1
With the introduction of SQL Server 2016 you now have a new way to encrypt columns called Always Encrypted. With Always Encrypted, data is encrypted at the application layer via ADO.NET. This means you can encrypt your confidential data with your .NET application prior to the data being sent across the network to SQL Server. In this article, Greg Larson explains his experience with exploring setting up a table that stores always encrypted data.
Convert Rows into Columns
Convert the rows of a SELECT statement into a predetermined number of columns.
How Much Eventual Consistency Do You Have?
This week Steve Jones wants to know if you have eventual consistency in your environment?
Integrating Big Data Applications into Operational Environments
Integrating big data appliance solutions into a data warehouse requires preparation and forethought. DBAs and business data consumers must work together both to address the implementation issues above and to meet the needs of multiple business data consumers. Lockwood Lyon discusses the topic.
Blogs
AI Helps Me with My Sloppiness
By Steve Jones
I type fairly well. Well, I type fast, but I do wear out a...
Automatic Index Compaction
By ReviewMyDB
Index maintenance has always meant nightly jobs and a window you have to defend....
The Goldilocks problem – Materialized Views
I’m sure you’ve all heard the tale of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, but...
Forums
SQL Art, Part 4: Happy 4th of July — A British DBA's Guide to Celebrating a War We Don't Talk About
Comments posted to this topic are about the item SQL Art, Part 4: Happy...
How We Handled a Vendor Retry That Loaded Twice in Snowflake
Comments posted to this topic are about the item How We Handled a Vendor...
Cognitive Coverage
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Cognitive Coverage
Question of the Day
Getting the Average
I have this data in the dbo.Commission table in a SQL Server 2022 database.
salesperson commission Brian 12 Brian 16 Andy 7 Andy 14 Andy 21 Steve 20 Steve NULLAll the data is a varchar, and I decide to run this query to get the totals for each salesperson.
SELECT SalesPerson
, AVG(TRY_PARSE(Commission AS int)) AS TotalCommission
FROM commission
GROUP BY SalesPerson
GO
What average commission is calculated for Steve? See possible answers