One of the more confusing statistics in Oracle is one called the clustering factor. Associated with an index, it's actually dependent on the table data, more specifically the distance between 'jumps' for a given index key. Commonly, a 'jump' is the number of blocks between rows containing the given index key starting with the first block found containing that key. If that sounds confusing don't despair, David Fitzjarrell explains in detail.
An amazing visualization of basketball players has Steve Jones encouraging you to find your own pet project and showcase some skills.
MSDB is a system database used by SQL Server. MSDB stores all sorts of data, such as backup history, log shipping monitor history, SSIS packages and Service Broker queue data to name a few. Just like user databases, MSDB needs regular maintenance, including index optimizations and, more importantly, regular purging. In this article, Tim Radney looks at how neglecting your MSDB can negatively impact on your environment.
References and links to get you started in backing up your database to the Azure blob storage.
Can you deploy your database changes without any downtime? Steve Jones has a few notes.
The challenges of getting enough resources for our projects aren't always apparent.
Code must be checked, but how? Phil Factor shares his thoughts on automating SQL code reviews.
The poll this week looks to the future and artificial intelligence. Steve Jones wonders if we'll ever really see this.
Discusses the various SAN and NAS protocols (FC, iSCSI, NFS) and how choosing one over the other can impact your SQL Server Performance.
A short explanation and infographic of what SQL is. For the non-SQL people in your life.
By Steve Jones
“Don’t aim to have others like you; aim to have them respect you.” –...
Many years ago, before I joined Oracle, I was working on a major modernisation...
If you work with data pipelines, SQL, notebooks, or machine learning models, a Mac...
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When running DBCC CHECKDB on SQL Server 2025, can I include the Resource Database?
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