Making Plans
PASS President Tom Larock doesn't make long term plans. Steve Jones doesn't make long term plans. Do you?
Error handling with try-catch-finally in PowerShell for SQL Server
PowerShell V2 introduces the "try-catch-finally" statements, similar to those you already use when you write .NET code. "Try-catch-finally" encloses a block of script that is likely to produce errors under specific circumstances and therefore helps you to keep your code organized. This article is a short usage guide for this error handling construct.
Collect Data from Multiple Instances Using SSIS and Powershell
Use SSIS to pull data from multiple instances. Combine with powershell to run multiple instances simultaneously.
The Query Store
This week Steve Jones talks about the query store after an article was released describing it.
The Importance of Caching
Performance tuning and optimization definitely have their place in minimizing SQL Server Licensing costs – by helping keep CPU utilization low. But it’s important to remember that the fastest and most efficient query possible is the one that you never execute against your SQL Server. That might sound trite, but it’s at the heart of caching – which is key to helping organizations save significant money on SQL Server licensing costs while simultaneously enabling better application performance and increased scalability.
Who Truncated That Table and What Do I Do Now?
This article describes a way to identify the user who truncated the table & how you can recover the data.
The Promise - and the Pitfalls - of In-Memory OLTP
When SQL Server 2014 was released, it included Hekaton, Microsoft’s much talked about memory-optimized engine that brings In-Memory OLTP into play. With memory-optimized tables 30 times faster than disk-based tables, higher performance is promised – but at what cost? Jonathan Watts looks at the features that have improved, and those that need careful consideration.
Your Tools
In many occupations, workers invest in their own tools. However we rarely do that in technology.
Code Comparison for SQL Server vs. MariaDB
Daniel Calbimonte has written a code comparison for MariaDB vs. SQL Server as it pertains to how to comment, how to create functions and procedures with parameters, how to store query results in a text file, how to show the top n rows in a query, how to use loops, and more.
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