The columnstore index in SQL Server 2012 stores columns instead of rows, and is designed to speed up analytical processing and data-warehouse queries. Whilst columnstore indexes certainly do that effectively, they are not a universal panacea since there are a number of limitations on them. When used appropriately, they can reduce disk I/O and use memory more efficiently.
A foreign key points to a primary key that must exist in another table, for example, column X in Table 1 must also be present in Table 2. The key protects this link, and only valid data can be inserted in the foreign key column. An untrusted foreign key may threaten a database’s referential and data integrity.
Join Red Gate for a free seminar on September 27 (the day before SQL Saturday Denver). Steve Jones, SQL Server MVP and editor-in-chief of SQLServerCentral.com, will present best practices for SQL Server database development, in addition to showing Red Gate tools in action.
This article shows how to implement a Slowly Changing Facts Table, how to overcome the problems encountered when using the MERGE statement to process the data and suggest a minimal set of indexes to aid data loading and quering.
It’s hard to avoid privacy-based stories at the moment, with growing concern over government snooping and the limits of power. But where I’m based, in the UK, there’s a new, fully-privatised invasion of privacy. One marketing company has created an outdoor wi-fi basestation that grabs your phone’s MAC address as you pass, with the idea […]
How much of an improvement in processing time can a simple SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS) partitioning structure provide? Can you provide any examples? Does this processing time improvement only apply to the fact tables? Check out this tip to learn more.
Read the first page of the linked article and then cast your vote in this Friday's poll.
Though the Key/Value pair paradigm is common to almost every computer language, there is no clear agreement yet for the definition of a Key/Value Pair database. However, Key/Value pair databases are valuable for special applications where speed of writing data is more important than searching and general versatility. Buck Woody experiments.
This article describes different methods for deploying your SSIS projects to a server.
With all the concern over the economy lately, Steve Jones talks about about finances and tries to bring perspective to those of us in the real world.
By Steve Jones
I’m at the UK Redgate office today, meeting with senior leaders in all areas...
Optimizing Azure SQL Database performance often begins with identifying the most resource-intensive queries. Understanding...
By gbargsley
This is Week 2 of PowerShell Strikes Back – a four-week May series for...
Comments posted to this topic are about the item SSRS Is Dead. Here Are...
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The Distance Metric
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The New Wave of Security...
In the new VECTOR_DISTANCE() function in SQL Server 2025, the first parameter is the distance_metric. What is this?
See possible answers