You Can Still Vote for PASS
If you couldn't vote last week or didn't get a ballot, you still can. Please go to www.sqlpass.org and learn more.
Ninja Immutable Databases
'Immutable' databases operate under the principle that data or objects should not be modified after they are created. Once again they hold the promise of providing strong consistency combined with horizontal read scalability, and built-in caching. Are Immutable databases a new idea? Are they different in any way from the mainstream RDBMSs?
Data Compression and Snapshot Isolation
Data Compression and Snapshot Isolation don't play well together, you may not see a performance benefit
The Final Service Packs
Microsoft has released a final service pack for SQL Server 2008 R2, which many of you might want to install.
Protect Confidential SQL Server Data Q and A
Following on from a webcast, Tim Smith answers some questions on SQL Server security like: Is It Better To Mask At the Application Level Or The SQL Server Database Level? Are there any options to find SSNs in SQL Server besides RegEx? And, why would anyone store sensitive data un-encrypted in SQL Server?
Life Logging
This editorial was orignally published on Dec 8, 2009. It is being re-run as Steve is on vacation. Would you like the idea of capturing everything you do? Audio, video, text, code, a log of your life. A new book from Microsoft Research talks about this and Steve Jones things it could be an interesting capability for your career.
Filling In Missing Values Using the T-SQL Window Frame
Since SQL Server delivered the entire range of window functions, there has been far less justification for using the non-standard ex-Sybase 'Quirky Update' tricks to perform the many permutations of running totals in SQL Server. One of these related problems is the 'Data Smear'. Do window functions make this easier, and what is performance like? Dwain Camps investigates.
Challenge Yourself
How do you grow your career? Steve Jones has a few ideas on what you can do to both improve your skills and build your brand.
Synchronize Salesforce with SQL Server using SSIS
Easily synchronize live Salesforce data with SQL Server using the Salesforce SSIS DataFlow Tasks.
Change All Computed Columns to Persisted in SQL Server
Aaron Bertrand recently answered a question from a user who wanted to convert all of their SQL Server computed columns to be persisted. This allows you to shift the SQL Server cost of performing the computation from query time to the time of the insert/update, at the cost of storage. In this tip, Aaron shows you how.
Blogs
Programmatically Retrieving MLV Lineage and Refresh Times
Materialized lake views (MLVs) in Microsoft Fabric are an effective way to implement medallion...
Upgrading SQL Server Containers on the Laptop
By Steve Jones
I don’t have SQL Server installed on my laptop. In an effort to keep...
Question of the Day
Increase Deadlock Detection
How can I alter the deadlock detection interval to 2 seconds instead of 5 seconds on my SQL Server 2025 instance?
See possible answers