Writing Before Reading
We often learn to write code before we really learn to read it, which seems like a problem to Steve.
There Are Days When I Feel Like Giving Up on the Plan Cache and Query Store.
In theory, SQL Server performance monitoring is pretty simple: 1. Review the server’s top wait types, 2. Find the queries causing those wait types, 3. Fix those queries, or improve the way the server reacts to them (indexes, settings, etc.). But in practice, step 2 is awful because:
Other IDEs
This editorial was originally published on Jun 17, 2020. It is being republished as Steve is out of town. Let us know if you've changed your SQL IDEs since then. Most of us use SSMS (SQL Server Management Studio) to manage our SQL Server instances or to write database code. However, Microsoft does give us […]
SSRS Is Dead. Here Are Your Real Options
SQL Server 2025 shipped without SSRS. If you're managing paginated reports, your options just narrowed; but they're not what most people think. I evaluated all 10 realistic migration paths. Here's an honest comparison, including the one I built.
SOFTMAX Function in SQL Server
Explore the mechanics of the SOFTMAX function in SQL Server. Transform scores into probabilities with this essential tool.
The New Wave of Security Threats
New AI tools are discovering older vulnerabilities in software, as well as new ones. Get ready for a bunch of patches to come out.
How to Calculate Distance Between Coordinates in SQL Server
Learn a quick way to calculate distances without resorting to spatial calculations.
There's Too Much to Learn
Steve has thoughts about those of us struggling to keep up with technology changes.
Can SQL Server 2025’s REGEXP_SPLIT_TO_TABLE fix STRING_SPLIT in T-SQL?
Learn how to split strings efficiently in T-SQL using STRING_SPLIT and the REGEXP_SPLIT_TO_TABLE function in SQL Server 2025.
The Dangers of Dependencies
Single points of failure are bad, but what if an employee's action is the single point of failure for access to services? That would be a bad day for any organization.
Blogs
A Career of Memories
By Steve Jones
Annabel retired from Redgate Software this week. Across most of my career at Redgate,...
Rethinking Index Maintenance: Why avg_fragmentation_in_percent Is Outdated and What You Should Do Instead
By Tim Radney
As a SQL Server DBA with years of experience tuning production environments, I’ve seen...
Microsoft Build 2026 announcements
By James Serra
Once again there were a number of Microsoft Build announcements related to data and...
Forums
Changes, Happiness, and a Few Tears
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Changes, Happiness, and a Few...
BCP on Linux
Comments posted to this topic are about the item BCP on Linux
You Probably Don't Need a Vector Database
Comments posted to this topic are about the item You Probably Don't Need a...
Question of the Day
BCP on Linux
When running bcp on Linux, what is the field terminator?
See possible answers