Forward Deployed Engineers
A new job title, the forward deployed engineer, is becoming more popular.
TRY_PARSE vs TRY_CONVERT in SQL Server: From Basics to Practical Usage
This article shows how the TRY_PARSE() and TRY_CONVERT() functions can be used to handle data quality issues and ensure that your software continues to function without throwing errors.
Understanding Deadlock Victim Selection in SQL Server
A short introduction to how deadlocks work and how you can affect their behavior inside your system.
SSRS Reminded Me of the Time Microsoft Retired TMG
Reading that SQL Server 2025 shipped without SSRS took me back to 2012, when Microsoft announced end-of-life for TMG — our perimeter firewall, web proxy, and SSL inspection. It had run quietly for years until it suddenly needed a plan. Within weeks, vendors found us. Demos, a steering committee, a three-month project plan. We weren't […]
I Can't Make You Learn
Steve believes that his career and life have become better as he learns more everything. It's the key to improvement.
Why Your SQL Permissions Disappeared
When you change a schema owner in SQL Server, all object-level permissions vanish instantly. There is no warning. Here's how to prevent it and fix it when it happens.
Correct SQL Server Always On Availability Group Not Synchronizing
We had an issue with a SQL Server database in an Always On Availability Group (AOAG) where it was not synchronizing the secondary replica even though it was using the “Synchronous commit” Availability Mode for the secondary replica. This article explains how to troubleshoot and resolve:
A Quick Second Opinion
Communication is hard, and it's something most of us can learn to do better. Steve notes that using an LLM for tasks will also help you learn to communicate better.
Five Intelligent Query Processing Features in SQL Server 2022 That Quietly Tune Your Workload
Learn about a few new features built into SQL Server 2022 that can help improve performance on your workload.
How to call an Ollama-based AI text embeddings model from SQL Server 2025
Learn how to call locally hosted Ollama embedding models from SQL Server using sp_invoke_external_rest_endpoint
Blogs
A New Word: Gnossienne
By Steve Jones
gnossienne– n. the awareness that someone you’ve known for years still has a private...
Exploring DiskANN: Part I: Understanding the Algorithm before the disk
How I used AI for this postChatGPT to generate images based on info specifically...
Learning Tool – Deepstash
By Brian Kelley
A few months ago I started using Deepstash. Deepstash breaks books into the key...
Forums
When the Token Meter is Zero
Comments posted to this topic are about the item When the Token Meter is...
Understanding Temp Tables and Table Variables in SQL Server
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Understanding Temp Tables and Table...
The Data API Builder MCP Server Tools
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The Data API Builder MCP...
Question of the Day
The Data API Builder MCP Server Tools
The Data API Builder MCP Server, v2.x, includes a number of tools. What actions can these tools perform in your database?
See possible answers