How Often Does Production Drift?
Database drift is the difference between two database schemas. Today Steve Jones discusses the concept and wonders how often it happens.
The Salesforce Platform: The Return of the Citizen Programmer
The current popularity of the Salesforce software development platform has taken the industry by surprise. The current IT culture favours the esoteric, yet here is a development platform geared to the idea that anyone can use it: a populist language like BASIC. Does this threaten the careers of professional developers?
Generate SSRS reports from a SSIS Package
Learn how to invoke SSRS reports from an SSIS package after the data load is completed.
Real World T-SQL Tricks
This week Steve Jones wonders if you're taking advantage of the changes in the T-SQL language.
Questions About Using TSQL to Import Excel Data You Were Too Shy to Ask
It is easy to import Excel data into database tables via TSQL, using OLEDB, either by the OPENROWSET function or linking to the spreadsheet as a server. The problem is that there are certain things that aren't obvious that you need to know about.
Achievement Unlocked: Balance 0
Steve Jones completed a task this year that he's rarely completed in the past.
Distribution Database Migration
This article shows a step-by-step guide to move the distribution database to a new SQL Server instance.
Monitoring Azure SQL Database
Marcin Policht presents different methods that allow you to monitor the performance and characteristics of your PaaS databases, ensuring that they behave in a manner that matches your expectations.
The SQL Server Container
There's an interesting idea that exists for lightweight, application separation on a host that's different from virtualization. It's Docker, and Steve Jones talks about it today.
Blogs
Advice I Like: Respect
By Steve Jones
“Don’t aim to have others like you; aim to have them respect you.” –...
Blue Sky Programming – The Optimism Trap
Many years ago, before I joined Oracle, I was working on a major modernisation...
Setting Up a Mac for Data Engineering and AI Work
If you work with data pipelines, SQL, notebooks, or machine learning models, a Mac...
Forums
SQL Art, Part 4: Happy 4th of July — A British DBA's Guide to Celebrating a War We Don't Talk About
Comments posted to this topic are about the item SQL Art, Part 4: Happy...
SQL Server Still Wins
Comments posted to this topic are about the item SQL Server Still Wins
DBCC CHECKDB Limits I
Comments posted to this topic are about the item DBCC CHECKDB Limits I
Question of the Day
DBCC CHECKDB Limits I
When running DBCC CHECKDB on SQL Server 2025, can I include the Resource Database?
See possible answers