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.
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
Blogs
Advice I Like: Respect
By Steve Jones
“Don’t aim to have others like you; aim to have them respect you.” –...
Blue Sky Programming – The Optimism Trap
Many years ago, before I joined Oracle, I was working on a major modernisation...
Setting Up a Mac for Data Engineering and AI Work
If you work with data pipelines, SQL, notebooks, or machine learning models, a Mac...
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...
locking down agent for new user on our dev machine
hi , a new user wants to be able to add sql agent jobs...
SQL Server Enum Implementation: A Single-Row View Strategy for Avoiding Magic Values
Comments posted to this topic are about the item SQL Server Enum Implementation: A...
Question of the Day
BIT_COUNT I
In SQL Server 2025, I have a table (dbo.UserPermission) that contains this data:
UserID UserPermissions 15 23 37What is returned when I run this code:
select bit_count(UserPermissions) as PermissionCount from dbo.UserPermission where UserID = 3;See possible answers