SQL Monitor Custom metric: Average I/O stalls
This is a good general indicator of performance problems. High stall times indicate I/O problems, which can be attributed to busy physical disks or queries that return large data sets to the client.
Webinar: How to safely manage application and database changes with continuous delivery
Join Brian A. Randell, Grant Fritchey and Steve Jones in this panel discussion to hear tips, ideas and share your questions on managing application and database deployments with continuous delivery. This Free webinar will be on May 27th at 4PM BST, register while space is available.
The Cascading (CROSS) APPLY
An old trick nowadays but one which is still underused here on SSC is the cascading CROSS APPLY – where output from one CROSS APPLY is used as input for another.
Optimizing Batch Process in SQL Server
SQL Server batch processes are usually run from SQL Agent in the background. Often, the responsibility for creating these tasks belongs entirely to the developer. Dennes Torres demonstrates that DBAs can advise and assist with this type of batch job to help reduce their impact on the working system.
Big Data for SQL folks: The Technologies (Part I)
Will RDBMs be obsolete? Should Data Professionals care about Big Data technologies? What is NoSQL? What is Hadoop? Big Data-the whole story.
Native Audits
This week Steve Jones asks if you're using the SQL Audit feature built into SQL Server.
Database Continuous Integration Workshop - London, UK
Join this workshop on July 8, 2015 to learn how to: link your source control repository to a build system, trigger database builds automatically when you make a change, use DLM tools to test your database changes, and lay the foundations for package-based deployment of your database. Register while space is available.
Developer-Tester Relationships
In a development team, there are times when the relationships between developers and testers can become strained. How can you turn this potential conflict into something more positive? Is it part of the skill of team-working to find ways of avoiding friction, or should one blame a system that relies on good social skills to work well?
Interactive Parameter Selection with Reporting Services
Revamp the classic Reporting Services interface with a more modern look and feel adapted to mobile BI
Blogs
Monday Monitor Tips: Intelligent Alert Thresholds
By Steve Jones
At the recent Redgate Summit in Chicago, I demo’d (lightly) the ML based Alert...
A New Word: los vidados
By Steve Jones
los vidados – n. the half-remembered acquaintances you knew years ago, who you might...
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...
Forums
String_agg not working as needed
I'm trying to get this string_agg to put all the 'comments' into one result...
Vectors in SQL Server 2025
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Vectors in SQL Server 2025
Odd Sequences
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Odd Sequences
Question of the Day
Odd Sequences
What values are returned from this code?
CREATE SEQUENCE NumericSequence
AS NUMERIC(5,1)
START WITH 1.0
INCREMENT BY 0.1;
GO
SELECT NEXT VALUE FOR NumericSequence
GO
SELECT NEXT VALUE FOR NumericSequence
GO See possible answers