Data Sprawl
The challenges of data growth and sprawl can be compounded by the variety of tools and platforms available. Steve Jones notes that you might need to learn a bit about different technologies.
Free webinar: DLM Demo
Redgate’s Database Lifecycle Management solution ensures database changes made in development environments are always tested and reviewed before being deployed, and adds automation to the process. Find out how by joining Steve Jones, MVP and editor of SQLServerCentral, as he demonstrates the solution and shows why such an approach is essential if you want to release changes frequently.
Interesting things about INSTEAD OF triggers
This article from Paul White examines some surprising behaviour of INSTEAD OF triggers and reveals a serious cardinality estimation bug in SQL Server 2014.
Baseline Collector Solution V2
New version of the Free Baseline Collector Solution released. Do you collect baseline data? If not, let's start doing it!
Data Liability
The issue of who owns data, and who is responsible is one that our world hasn't defined well. Steve Jones has a few thoughts on potential issues for data professionals.
Learning Stretch Database
References and links about the Stretch to Azure feature in SQL Server 2016.
Whatever happened to Database Table Refactoring?
Phil Factor ponders why most people lost their initial enthusiasm for refactoring databases iteratively, in parallel with the evolutionary design of the rest of the system.
How to Confuse the SQL Server Query Optimizer
Want to 'trick' SQL Server into performing millions of logical reads to return data, when only are few thousand were really required? In this article, Gail Shaw examines three common forms of generic SQL that can and will confuse the SQL Server Optimizer to the point that it generates and reuses very inefficient execution plans.
Logging and Error Handling for SQL Stored Procedures
Learn how to develop and test a template for logging and error handling in a multi-step SQL stored procedure
T-SQL Window Functions Speed Phreakery
Before SQL Server had SQL window functions, SQL Server developers had to use all manner of tricks and algorithms to come up with ways to rapidly process large amounts of data. Do we need these techniques now that we can express a SQL task in terms of window functions? Kathi revisits a famous SQL challenge to find out.
Blogs
In-Person CISA Training – April 13-16, 2026
By Brian Kelley
I will be leading an in-person Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) exam prep class...
EightKB 2026
EightKB is back again for 2026! The biggest online SQL Server internals conference is...
The FinOps Lifecycle: From Budgeting to Reporting
By HeyMo0sh
Working in DevOps long enough teaches you two universal truths: That’s exactly why I...
Forums
query to track time spent on individual tasks in SSIS
Hi everyone I am looking at building a query to determine how much time...
SQL Server Transactional Replication from Always On Availability Groups to Azure SQL Database
Comments posted to this topic are about the item SQL Server Transactional Replication from...
Hidden Heroes
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Hidden Heroes
Question of the Day
Identities and Sequences I
When thinking of the Identity property for auto incrementing columns and sequences for the same action, which are explicitly linked to increment a number in a table when a new row is added?
See possible answers