Inspiring Change
Day 2 at the PASS Summit provides some inspiration for Steve Jones at the Women in Technology luncheon.
Demonstrating the Effects of Using Data Compression in SQL Server
How much space would compressing a particular index will save? How will this affect query performance? Derek Colley walks you through the effects of using data compression in SQL Server.
Divide and Conquer
Schemas may be largely irrelevant to small databases, where it is no trouble to assign permissions to individual objects, but they are vital for a hard working corporate database that is being actively developed and used by several applications, with thousands of objects that must be assigned the correct permission.
Is Unit Testing Important?
Testing our applications is important, but at what level do we need to test? Steve Jones talks about unit testing today, and wonders if this is prevalent for SQL Server developers.
Worst Day as a DBA Story Finalists
We asked DBAs to share their worst days. Some are funny, others tragic, many both. Here are the 5 finalists, vote for your favorite story to be THE worst day as a DBA.
Automating the Retrieval of SQL Backups from Windows Azure BLOB Storage
If your database server is in Azure, then it makes sense to do backups into Azure too. SQL Server 2014 supports backups to the cloud, and particularly well with Managed Backup. Once your backups are safely in an Azure BLOB, then what? Mike Wood takes up the story.
Automate Sliding Window Partition Maintenance: Part III
Part 3 of Hugh Scott's series on automating sliding window partitions in SQL Server using PowerShell
On Handling Dates in SQL
The handling of dates in TSQL is complex - when SQL Server was Sybase, it was forced by the lack of prevailing standards in SQL to create its own ways of processing and formatting dates and times. Joe Celko looks forward to a future when it is possible to write standard SQL date-processing code with SQL Server.
Grant EXEC on all Stored Procedures to a Role
Easily grant exec permission to all stored procedures to a database role in SQL 2005 or higher.
Privacy and Data
Much of the data collected by companies is being sold for profit. This data isn't treated well and while not much may change, perhaps we should be aware of how we handle data as professionals.
Blogs
Claude AI Convinced Me Not to Build an iPad App
By Steve Jones
I coach volleyball and I do a lot of stat stuff on paper. I...
A New Word: Dolorblindness
By Steve Jones
dolorblindness – n. the frustration that you’ll never be able to understand another person’s...
Claude Code Helps Analyze Test Data Manager Log Files
By Steve Jones
I had a customer ask about analyzing their Test Data Manager (TDM) usage to...
Forums
Data Warehouse Toolkit meets Star Schema: The Complete Reference
Is there a good syllabus for reading these two together? (Yes, it's called the...
GPX distance and time analysis in SQL Server
Comments posted to this topic are about the item GPX distance and time analysis...
The DBA is Dead; Long Live the DBA
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The DBA is Dead; Long...
Question of the Day
Changing the AG Listener
In SQL Server 2025, if I want to remove an IP from a listener, what do I do?
See possible answers