Data Lakes
An interesting new paradigm popped up in the news this week: the data lake. It examines data as a model for organizational architectures.
SQL Server PCI DSS Security Patching Checklist
PCI DSS has strict requirements about implementing security updates and using only applications which are supported by the vendors. How do you create a patching policy for SQL Servers?
Multiple Backup Files
This Friday Steve Jones looks at your backup system and wonders how many people use striped backups.
Backing up your SQL Server to Amazon's Cloud in Three Easy Steps
John Grover explains how to set up Amazon S3 storage, install and configure the Amazon PowerShell module, and set up a Maintenance plan using SQL native backups and PowerShell.
Two Days Off
Verizon is taking their cloud service offline for maintenance for two days. Steve Jones doesn't think that sounds good.
Archiving Hierarchical, Deleted Transaction Using XML
When you delete a business transaction from the database, there are times when you might want to keep a record of the data for posterity. In this article, Dwain Camps looks at a tidy means of doing just that.
Test Your Situation
One of the important things is to be able to recover your environment. That doesn't mean you need to know everything about SQL Server and potential disasters, but you should know their affect on your situation.
Importance of Statistics and How It Works in SQL Server – Part 1
SQL Server Query Optimizer uses statistical information to estimate the cardinality in a query result. This enables the SQL Server Query Optimizer to create a high-quality query execution plan. Read on to learn how to use statistics and why it’s needed.
Recovering from Bad Deployments
When you deploy software, what do you do if things don't go well? Steve Jones talks about a few options you might have.
Add a linear trendline to a graph in SQL Server Reporting Services
In this article, Koen Verbeeck illustrates how to add a linear trendline to a graph in SSRS, similar to the way it would appear if done Excel.
Blogs
Flyway Tips: AI Generating Migration Script Names
By Steve Jones
AI is a big deal in 2026, and at Redgate, we’re experimenting with how...
The Book of Redgate: Get the right stuff done
By Steve Jones
Another of our values: The facing page has this quote: “We admire people who...
Runing tSQLt Tests with Claude
By Ed Elliott
Running tSQLt unit tests is great from Visual Studio but my development workflow...
Forums
No Defaults Passwords Ever
Comments posted to this topic are about the item No Defaults Passwords Ever
Introduction of OPTIMIZE_FOR_SEQUENTIAL_KEY = ON
Hi, We have low latency high volume system. I have a table having 3...
The Long Name
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The Long Name
Question of the Day
The Long Name
I run this code to create a table:
When I check the length, I get these results:
A table name is limited to 128 characters. How does this work?