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.
Using the MERGE Statement to Perform an UPSERT
The term UPSERT has been coined to refer to an operation that inserts rows into a table if they don’t exist, otherwise they are updated. To perform the UPSERT operation Microsoft introduced the MERGE statement. Not only does the MERGE statement support the UPSERT concept, but it also supports deleting records. Greg Larsen discusses how to use the MERGE statement to UPDATE, INSERT and DELETE records from a target table.
What, when and who? Auditing 101 - Part 3
Who messed around with my database? Auditing 101. In this article we will take a look at another technique available in SQL 2008 and higher. This new technique is SQL Audit.
SQL Server Analysis Services Attribute Relationships
This tip looks at some of the questions around attribute relationships in SQL Server Analysis Services, including why you need them, how to create them, and the common data sets involved.
GUIDs GUIDs everywhere, but how is my data unique?
After having seen many systems that use GUIDs as the primary key for every table, it is time to say enough is enough.
Questions About T-SQL Transaction Isolation Levels You Were Too Shy to Ask
Every time you access a relational database to make a query, you have an important decision to make: What is the appropriate isolation level for your query? If you get this wrong, the consequences can be serious. Deadlocks, Dirty reads, Non-repeatable reads, or poor performance. We're in luck, because Robert Sheldon once more answers those questions that are awkward to ask in public.
Introduction to Azure SQL Database Scalability
One of the primary advantages of Platform-as-a-Service solutions offered by Microsoft Azure is the ease with which scaling can be implemented. While SQL Database facilitates both vertical and horizontal scaling approaches, scaling it out is considerably more challenging. In this article, we will provide a high-level overview of both vertical and horizontal scaling methods available with Azure SQL Database.
Blogs
Learn about Modern Microsoft Apps in San Diego
By Steve Jones
I wrote about learning today for the editorial: I Can’t Make You Learn. I...
How To Deploy Fabric SQL and Azure SQL Databases with Azure DevOps
By ReviewMyDB
Fabric has CI/CD built in, but if you've tried to use it for database...
A New Word: Attriage
By Steve Jones
attriage – n. the state of having lost all control over how you feel...
Forums
Forward Deployed Engineers
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TRY_PARSE vs TRY_CONVERT in SQL Server: From Basics to Practical Usage
Comments posted to this topic are about the item TRY_PARSE vs TRY_CONVERT in SQL...
DBCC CHECKDB Limits II
Comments posted to this topic are about the item DBCC CHECKDB Limits II
Question of the Day
DBCC CHECKDB Limits II
I have a SQL Server 2025 database that I want to check for corruption every night. One of the things we do is disable indexes used for ETL loads during the weekend and re-enable them on Monday morning. If we run DBCC over the weekend, are our disabled indexes checked for consistency?
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