Try to focus on the positive
When we focus on negative things we get more negative. Be thankful for something positive.
On Comparing Tables in SQL Server
How do you compare two SQL tables? Every SQL Developer or DBA knows the answer, which is 'it depends'. It is not just the size of the table or the type of data in it but what you want to achieve. Phil Factor sets about to cover the basics and point out some snags and advantages to the various techniques.
SQL Monitor Custom Metric: Ad Hoc Queries Running Once
This metric measures the total number of ad hoc queries in the plan cache that have only run one time. The value is only accurate for the instant the query is run, and the value can change radically from one capture time to the next.
Anything Remotely Useful
Phi Factor on how to combine PowerShell Remoting with slick Windows tools such as SQLPSX, Boxstarter and Chocolatey, to automate the development process right through to delivery.
Getting the Most out of Statistics
Statistics keep track of our data and will tell SQL Server how to make the best optimization decisions. Knowing how they work can make understanding query and performance problems much easier!
Quick Guide to Installing SQL Server 2014
In this tip, we will demonstrate the installation of SQL Server 2014 on a notebook. While processing large amounts of data on a system like this might not be feasible, one can still learn how to configure and use the features of SQL Server 2014.
Find Customers Who Bought "A" and "B" But Not "C" (SQL Spackle)
A simple problem that can become complex in T-SQL. How do you find the rows that match 2 conditions, but not a third, in an efficient manner. MVP Jeff Moden gives us a solution.
Motivating the Team
It's easy to get excited if you work at a startup, or a software company. But for corporate workers that toil in IT departments all around the world, how do you keep them motivated? Steve Jones has a few thoughts about simple things that make workers feel better about their jobs.
On Adopting the Mindset of an Enterprise DBA
Although many of the important tasks a DBA has to perform should be done 'by hand', keying in commands or using SSMS, the canny DBA with a heavy workload will always have an eye to automating routine tasks wherever possible, or using a tool.
Blogs
A Last Minute Trip to the EU
By Steve Jones
My life has some crazy travel stretches for sure. Between speaking, office visits, customer...
Part 3 of 3: Tuning DiskANN — R, Alpha, L, Beam Width, Recall and Latency
In Part 1, we saw how ‘Vamana’ represents vectors as nodes, connects them with...
Automated SQL Server Benchmarking with HammerDB and Docker: A Complete Testing Framework
I’m excited to announce the release of a new open-source project that fully automates...
Forums
Server-Level Table sizes
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Server-Level Table sizes
Optional Parameter Plan Optimization in SQL Server 2025: Fixing the Kitchen-Sink Search Procedure
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Optional Parameter Plan Optimization in...
Question of the Day
ORDER BY alias
There is a table tmp_tab:
CREATE TABLE tmp_tab ( id int, val int );
INSERT INTO tmp_tab VALUES (1, 1), (2, NULL), (3, 3), (4, 4), (5, 5);You want to order the rows ids by the following expression:
ISNULL(val, id) + 1Which of the following queries produces the expected ordering and why? (Select all correct) See possible answers