Better, Faster, and Cheaper
When building a system, you need to make choices. However, do you always need to make the choice of only two of the three "good, fast, or cheap" choices? Andy Warren has a few thoughts.
Index Utilization Trending
An important part of regular database maintenance is to monitor index usage and make adjustments as needed. How can we monitor, store, and trend this data effectively over time?
Lots of Security Concerns
This past week saw lots of security concerns, especially around data. Steve Jones has a few comments about the implications.
SQL Server Reporting Services Basics: Building SSRS Reports
Kathi Kellenberger describes the basics of SSRS before showing you how to build quick, simple reports.
How to centralize your SQL Server Event Logs
Learn how you can centralize the Event log data for your servers using a process that Geoff Albin has been using for over 10 years.
The Gadget Itch
What would build if you had time? Anything fun or interesting? What's on your mind if you're a maker?
Use Extended Events to Get More Information About failed SQL Server Login Attempts
You may have cases where an ancient application is using an old login or the wrong password. SQL Server is great about auditing failed logins and recording that they happened; it is not so great, however, at providing enough information to locate them. Aaron Bertrand offers some help.
DAX: Topn is not a Filter
In this document I will demonstrate how using the TOPN function in a DAX query doesn’t necessarily do what you may expect.
Searching for Strings in SQL Server Databases
Sometimes, you just want to do a search in a SQL Server database as if you were using a search engine like Google. Besides the obvious Full-Text search, Phil Factor describes some of the techniques for finding that pesky data that resists the normal SELECT blandishments.
Blogs
Monday Monitor Tips: Intelligent Alert Thresholds
By Steve Jones
At the recent Redgate Summit in Chicago, I demo’d (lightly) the ML based Alert...
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...
Forums
String_agg not working as needed
I'm trying to get this string_agg to put all the 'comments' into one result...
Vectors in SQL Server 2025
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Vectors in SQL Server 2025
Odd Sequences
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Odd Sequences
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