Beginner, Expert, or Both?
It can be easy to start learning about a topic, think you've mastered it, and become complacent. Steve Jones notes that an expert beginner might be what you are, but it's not necessarily what you want to be.
How to implement SHA-2 in SQL Server 2005 or 2008 with a CLR assembly
SQL Server 2012 supports SHA-256 and SHA-512 through the HASHBYTES() function, but earlier versions of SQL Server do not. SHA-256, SHA-384 and SHA-512 can, however, be implemented in SQL Server 2005 or SQL Server 2008 with the CLR assembly described in this article.
IT Security
A recent survey says IT security is a major concern for many businesses. Steve Jones wonders why they don't make more of an effort to implement better security in their applications and processes.
SQLServerCentral Changes - Oct 2013
We've made a few changes to the site, and we want you to check them out.
DAX Statistical Functions
Following on from his first four articles on using Data Analysis Expressions (DAX) with tabular databases, Robert Sheldon dives into some of the DAX statistical functions available, demonstrating which are the most useful and examples of how they work.
The Ratio
How many developers does it take to overwhelm a DBA? It's an interesting question, and this week Steve Jones asks how many you actually support.
RD Licensing Configuration on Windows Server 2012
The Microsoft Performance Team discusses the steps in installing/configuring Windows Server 2012 Remote Desktop Services Licensing in your environment using various available options.
SQL Saturday #227 - Charleston
SQL Saturday is coming to Charleston, SC on October 12, 2013. SQL Saturday is a free training event for SQL Server professionals and those wanting to learn about SQL Server. Don't miss Charleston's first SQL Saturday.
Replication: Distribution Agent Monitoring
Learn about the distribution agent and how to identify replication bottlenecks.
Lab Ops 2–The Lee-Robinson Script
Marcus Robinson adapted PowerShell scripts by Thomas Lee to build a set of VMs to run a course in a reliable and repeatable way. With Marcus’s permission, Andrew Fryer has put that Setup Script on SkyDrive, and provided notes on the script.
Blogs
Presenting Twice in May 2026
By alevyinroc
I will be presenting my latest session, Documenting Your Work for Worry-Free Vacations, in-person...
Finding the Next Sequence Value: #SQLNewBlogger
By Steve Jones
I saw a question asking about the next sequence value and decided to try...
SQL Server Journey Part 2: Modern Era (2017 – 2026) – AI/Cloud First
By Vinay Thakur
Following up on my Part 1 baseline, the journey from 2017 onward changed how...
Forums
Auto Update Statistics not triggering on filtered indexes
I've got a table with 186,703,969 rows, about 300GB of data. There are several...
What is the difference between SQL Server and SQL Database?
I created a SQL Database in Azure Portal but I've just noticed it also...
An Unusual Identity
Comments posted to this topic are about the item An Unusual Identity
Question of the Day
An Unusual Identity
What values are returned when I run this code?
CREATE TABLE dbo.IdentityTest2
(
id NUMERIC(10,0) IDENTITY(10,10) PRIMARY KEY,
somevalue VARCHAR(20)
)
GO
INSERT dbo.IdentityTest2
(
somevalue
)
VALUES
( 'Steve')
, ('Bill')
GO
SELECT top 10
id
FROM dbo.IdentityTest2 See possible answers