The Agile Cult
Lots of developers have embraced Agile development, and Steve Jones thinks it's a good way to build software. However, it's not necessarily as easy as you might think.
Are my actual worker threads exceeding the sp_configure 'max worker threads' value?
Tom Stringer (@SQLife) was working on some HADR testing for a customer to simulate many availability groups and introduce significant load into the system to measure overhead and such. In his quest to do that he was seeing behavior that he couldn’t really explain and so worked with him to uncover what was happening under the covers.
SQL Server Central Webinar Series #24: Prepare for When Disaster Strikes
Our next webinar on July 23rd has Steve Jones presenting on some disaster stories with ideas on how you might prevent, or mitigate the effects, of those problem situations.
Survey: Understanding SQL Code
Understanding thousands of lines of code of an existing database is very time-consuming and tedious, prone to inadvertent oversight of key logic points. We are looking at advanced ways to provide greater insight into your code base while reducing the numerous demands placed on the developer. Please help us by completing this short survey to help us define the requirements.
Tables and Clustered Indexes Part 2
A table does not so much 'have' a clustered index as a table 'is' a clustered index.
What Counts for a DBA: Baselines
It is very difficult to pinpoint what ails a server, just by looking at a single snapshot of the data, or to spot retrospectively what caused the problem by examining aggregated data for the server, collected over many months. The answer? Baselines.
SQL Monitor Custom Metric: Top Buffer Cache Object
This metric measures the amount of memory used in the buffer cache by the largest object (based on the number of pages). It checks the sys.dm_os_buffer_descriptors to identify the object, and returns the relative percentage used. You should use this metric if you want to monitor what is in the buffer area, or if you are having performance-related disk read problems.
SQL Server 2012 Analysis Services XMLA
Cube developers often flippantly use the term XMLA in their discussion of maintaining, scripting, backing up, and restoring cubes and other SSAS objects; what exactly is XMLA and how can it be used? Check out this tip to learn more.
DR Failovers
We don't often predict for disasters, which is good since we rarely have extensive plans for dealing with them. If we do, do we actually test our plans, or test the systems under full load?
Formatting Dates with 3 Character Months (SQL Spackle)
Another in the series of articles to help you "fill in the cracks" in your T-SQL knowledge. MVP Jeff Moden shows us a super simple, high performance method to solve this timeless problem.
Blogs
Webinar: Navigating the Database Landscape in 2026
By Steve Jones
For a number of years, we’ve produced the State of the Database Landscape report,...
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...
Forums
The Power of Data and Privacy
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The Power of Data and...
What's the Date?
Comments posted to this topic are about the item What's the Date?
Two New Shortcuts for Fabric Lakehouse Developers: The Fabric Modern Data Platform
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Two New Shortcuts for Fabric...
Question of the Day
What's the Date?
In SQL Server 2025, there is a new function that returns the current date without the time. What is it?
See possible answers