The MCM Program is dead. Long live the MCMs!
Grant Fritchey on why he takes a dim view of most certifications, and why the MCM was different.
Backup to the Cloud: The Silver Lining
Offsite backups are vital to data integrity, allowing for preservation and backup of data in catastrophic circumstances. Cloud backups have been around for a while, but are now really coming into their own. Tony Davis looks at how to get set up with cloud backups for restores and disaster recovery.
Risk and Assumptions
Building software always involves risk, but in these tough times, Steve Jones thinks we should be working to lower the risk of IT projects.
Improved Application Availability During Online Operations in SQL Server 2014
SQL Server 2014 introduces enhancements to two common database maintenance operations namely Partition Switching and Online Index Rebuild which greatly increases enterprise application availability by reducing maintenance downtime impact.
SQL Saturday #213 Providence, RI
Join us for a free day of SQL Server training and networking on September 21 in Providence Rhode Island. Featured speakers include Paresh Motiwala, Wayne Sheffield, and Jason Brimhall.
Versions of Disaster
Dealing with a disaster is a trying experience for anyone, but having to then worry about having the proper software installed can make things much worse. Steve Jones talks a bit about the challenges of worrying about software versions.
Condensing a Delimited List of Integers in SQL Server
In real-world applications, it often makes sense to show denormalized data, such as delimited lists, within the application's user interface. Dwain Camps shows why, and how, the distribution business stores information about 'islands' in sequences in order to track the status of the shipping of a consignment. It makes a great SQL puzzle.
SQLskills and SQL Intersection
This fall SQLskills is running the SQL track at SQLIntersection, with an amazing lineup of speakers and sessions. Join Paul Randal and Kimberly Tripp in Las Vegas for the event, Oct 28-30.
SQL Saturday #249 San Diego
Join SQL Saturday San Diego for a free day of SQL Server training and networking on September 21st. There will also be a free SQL in the City Session on the 20th presented by Steve Jones and Grant Fritchey.
Blogs
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...
PowerPoint to HTML with Claude AI
By Steve Jones
I had an idea for an animated view of a sales tool, and started...
Forums
Optimism Without Illusion or Why AI Needs Blunt Technologists
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Optimism Without Illusion or Why...
SSIS with VS2022 64/32 issue with Excel files
Hi all, I'm trying to do classic scenario for loading multiple Excel files into...
Case part is sloooooow
Hi So the case statement is slowing this down - but for the life...
Question of the Day
The String Distance I
In SQL Server 2025, what is returned by this code:
SELECT EDIT_DISTANCE('tim', 'tom')
Assume preview features are enabled. See possible answers