Everyone is a Target
Today Steve Jones looks at the targeted attacks by hackers against individual security professionals.
Retrieve file sizes from the file system using Power Query
Koen Verbeeck shows how to easily extract metadata from files in your directories with Power Query.
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.
Blogs
PlanTrace Now Supports PostgreSQL
PlanTrace Now Supports PostgreSQL The same plan analysis you know from...
A New Word: the Kinder Surprise
By Steve Jones
the kinder surprise – . the point in your early adolescence when you realize...
Crash-Consistent Snapshot Cloning - Hyper-V Edition
If you’ve been following my T-SQL Snapshot Backup series, most of what I’ve covered...
Forums
SSRS Is Dead. Here Are Your Real Options
Comments posted to this topic are about the item SSRS Is Dead. Here Are...
The Distance Metric
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The Distance Metric
The New Wave of Security Threats
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The New Wave of Security...
Question of the Day
The Distance Metric
In the new VECTOR_DISTANCE() function in SQL Server 2025, the first parameter is the distance_metric. What is this?
See possible answers