SQL Brainteasers: Guess the Christmas Carol/Song
It's Christmas, so here are some Christmassy-themed songs to guess.
SQL Server Data Aggregation for Data with Different Sampling Rates
In the emerging "Internet of Things", there are multitudes of devices collecting data at differing sampling rates. Integrating this data so the data has a common granularity in time is important to not only allow for accurate analysis and mining, but it will also aid in reducing the amount of data to be stored and processed.
In this tip, we will demonstrate how to use the T-SQL AVG function and GROUP BY clause to transform data collected from two devices sampling at 100Hz and 40Hz to one row per second.
Dealing with the Evil of FMTONLY from SSRS
SSRS continues to use SET FMTONLY ON even though it has many problems. How can we cope?
Practical PowerShell Unit-Testing: Mock Objects
Pester allows you to automate the testing of PowerShell scripts. It can test the output of a function as you develop it by validating simple data (scalars) and arrays, and allows you to focus on the one function you want to test by using 'mocking' to fake all the other functions and Cmdlets.
The Big Database Freeze
When a hospital’s mission-critical database fails at Christmas, disaster for the hospital – and its hapless DBA – seems certain. With less than an hour to spare before catastrophe, can the DBA Team save the day? This is a fictionalized true story.
Kitchen Culture
Today Andy Warren talks about an employee work item that many of you might not be tasked with.
Linked lists
Learn how you can achieve better performance with linked list instead of a numbering column.
What counts for a DBA: Responsibility
Whose fault is it if a database is hacked and its contents appear on a hacker’s site? Louis Davidson suggests that, regardless of limitations, the DBA always bears some responsibility.
Blogs
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...
EightKB 2026
EightKB is back again for 2026! The biggest online SQL Server internals conference is...
Forums
Vectors in SQL Server 2025
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Odd Sequences
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Odd Sequences
Everything is the right question away
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Everything is the right question...
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