SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) Log Files for Troubleshooting
Your SQL Server Report Server service will not start or you keep getting an error when you navigate to the SSRS URL? What logging tools are available to assist you with diagnosing SSRS problems, issues, or errors? Check out this tip to learn more.
The Decline of SQL Server
The popularity of SQL Server seems to be high, but there might be reasons to be concerned.
Using the WMI Event Watcher Task in SSIS to Process Data Files
With the WMI Event Watcher Task in SSIS we can import files as soon as they arrive.
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.
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...
locking down agent for new user on our dev machine
hi , a new user wants to be able to add sql agent jobs...
SQL Server Enum Implementation: A Single-Row View Strategy for Avoiding Magic Values
Comments posted to this topic are about the item SQL Server Enum Implementation: A...
Question of the Day
BIT_COUNT I
In SQL Server 2025, I have a table (dbo.UserPermission) that contains this data:
UserID UserPermissions 15 23 37What is returned when I run this code:
select bit_count(UserPermissions) as PermissionCount from dbo.UserPermission where UserID = 3;See possible answers