Why Primary Keys can be important on large tables
I inherited a database that was getting large and not performing well. After adding primary keys life got better.
Developer Week - Nuremberg, Germany
It's Developer Week in Nuremberg July 14-17. There are a couple of great speakers at this event, like Constantin Small and Sascha Dittmann. Register while space is available
Experiments with NEO4J: Using a graph database as a SQL Server metadata hub
NEO4J, the graph database, can be used to provide answers that are very tricky for relational databases, including providing diagrams to show how SQL tables relate to each other, and the shortest chain of relationships between two tables, as David Poole demonstrates
Lockdown or Let Them Free
Do we take security too far? Are we creating unnecessary rules for those that need to use the resources we support? Steve Jones talks today about security and how we might want to approach it when handling rights for developers.
Running SQL Server Databases in the Amazon Cloud (Part 1)
In this tip, Sadequl Hussain outlines what's involved in rolling out a SQL Server instance in RDS. In subsequent tips, he will explore what features it offers and what shortcomings it has.
Less and Less Visual
Phil Factor ponders the preponderance of text in current database tools, and asks what happened to our glorious graphical future?
Continuous Delivery and the Database
Continuous Delivery is fairly generally understood to be an effective way of tackling the problems of software delivery and deployment by making build, integration and delivery into a routine. Phil Factor explains why he's an enthusiast for databases being full participants in this story, and suggests practical ways of doing so.
Stairway to T-SQL: Beyond The Basics Level 7: Controlling the Flow of Your T-SQL
When you are writing TSQL code there are times when you want to perform the same logic over and over again. To accomplish this you can used the WHILE keyword. There are other times when you want to perform a conditional test and depending on the results of the test you execute one code block for the TRUE condition and possibly a different code block when the condition is FALSE. When you need to conditionally execute code based on the outcome of a condition you can used the IF keyword. In this Stairway level I will be discussing how to use the WHILE and IF constructs to control the flow of your TSQL code.
What you need for a Multi Subnet Configuration for AlwaysOn in SQL Server 2012
You have a new project that requires a primary database server in one building and secondary database server in another building to be configured as a Failover Cluster. What are the important points to consider for this scenario?
Blogs
Learn about Modern Microsoft Apps in San Diego
By Steve Jones
I wrote about learning today for the editorial: I Can’t Make You Learn. I...
How To Deploy Fabric SQL and Azure SQL Databases with Azure DevOps
By ReviewMyDB
Fabric has CI/CD built in, but if you've tried to use it for database...
A New Word: Attriage
By Steve Jones
attriage – n. the state of having lost all control over how you feel...
Forums
Getting results from a Procedure to join to a query
I have a need to execute a stored procedure and return the results to...
Upgrade 2016 Standard to 2022 Express
Title pretty much says it all - can this be done? I've tried several...
BIT_COUNT II
Comments posted to this topic are about the item BIT_COUNT II
Question of the Day
BIT_COUNT II
In SQL Server 2025, I have a table (dbo.UserPermission) that contains this data:
UserID UserPermissions 15 23 37 4 NULLWhat is returned when I run this code:
select bit_count(UserPermissions) as PermissionCount from dbo.UserPermission where UserID = 4;See possible answers