No Works of Art
Manual deployments and configuration of software is akin to creating works of art. Not exactly what Steve Jones would like to see if we are to practice software engineering.
Branching and Merging: Ten Pretty-Good Practices
After experiencing 'merge misery' personally, Konrad Lukasik came up with 10 well-tested ways of making branches and merges a stress-free part of application development.
Stairway to SQLCLR Level 3: Security (General and SAFE Assemblies)
In the third level of our Stairway to SQLCLR, we look at the various mechanisms in place to help us control Security. In this Level we will focus on SAFE mode and see how secure SQLCLR is by default.
Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) in SQL Server
There are several ways to implement encryption in SQL Server; Arshad Ali focuses on Transparent Data Encryption (TDE), which was introduced in SQL Server 2008 and is available in later releases.
Patching Problems
After some issues with a recent Windows patch, Steve Jones is concerned about the future of software updates.
Optimizing Transaction Log Throughput
As a DBA, it is vital to manage transaction log growth explicitly, rather than let SQL Server auto-growth events "manage" it for you. If you undersize the log, and then let SQL Server auto-grow it in small increments, you'll end up with a very fragmented log. This article demonstrates how this can have a significant impact on the performance of any SQL Server operations that need to read the log.
No reason to abandon SQL
The early signs are that we can now run a SQL-based relational database with distributed execution plans over commodity hardware, leaving just the task of splicing together of the result to the engine itself, then why can’t Microsoft or Oracle do it?
Blogs
ISACA AI Material/Exam Prep Discount (May 18 – June 30, 2026)
By Brian Kelley
If you are considering any of the ISACA AI certs like the Advanced Artificial...
A Fabric solution can be very cost effective
By ChrisJenkins
Are you currently using Microsoft Fabric or considering migrating to it? If so, there...
Track SQL Server Configuration Changes Using the Error Log
By SQLPals
Track SQL Server Configuration Changes Using the Error Log If you...
Forums
Before Using AI with Business Data, Read This
Artificial intelligence tools are quickly becoming part of daily business operations, from document analysis...
Designing SQL Server ETL Pipelines That Don't Break at Scale
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Designing SQL Server ETL Pipelines...
Detecting Deadlocks Quickly
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Detecting Deadlocks Quickly
Question of the Day
Detecting Deadlocks Quickly
In the Database Engine, when a deadlock is detected, what does the detection interval shrink to (in time)?
See possible answers