Driving Value
Does your IT organization bring value to your company? Steve Jones takes a look at some of the ways you can do this. This editorial was originally published on July 2, 2008. It is being re-published as Steve is at SQL Intersection.
Tune SQL Server 2012 Databases Using Database Engine Tuning Advisor
Microsoft Database Engine Tuning Advisor (DTA) is a database performance tuning utility designed to analyze your SQL Server database and suggest actions to be taken in order for taking your query performance to the next level.
Automating SQL Server Database Deployments: A Worked Example
Alex talks through a simple practical example of a database deployment, First creating a empty database and then upgrading it through three steps by writing T-SQL scripts, adjusting configuration files and the change log, before generating a full build script containing all schema objects.
Double Compliance
Sometimes auditing for one certification might help you pass another, but don't count on it.
The Memory Cube
A new memory technology has the potential to dramatically speed up access for computer systems.
SQL Saturday #189 - Costa Rica
Join us at SQL Saturday Costa Rica on April 13, 2013 for a day of SQL Server Training and Networking.
SQL Server JOIN Hints
You, as a SQL Server data professional, are looking for ways to improve your queries. You've done the usual - avoided cursors and loops, used locks effectively, examined execution plans - what else can you tweak? Check out this tip to learn more.
Insensitivity: A Good Technique?
This article explores the place of emotion among knowledge workers doing team-based design activities.
Generating Sequence Numbers Using the Sequence Object
The new SQL Server 2012 Sequence Object can be used to generate unique numbers that can be automatically incremented based on an increment value. Greg Larsen discusses the different features of the sequence object and how you can use it to generate sequence numbers.
New Custom Metric: Long Running Job
SQL Monitor’s Job duration unusual alert is a powerful tool for keeping track of most jobs in your SQL Server environment. It works by comparing the running time of any job instance against the median for that job, and identifying when a variation in the job duration could hint at a performance problem. However, if your environment contains big jobs whose durations vary by several orders of magnitudes, it can be tricky to specify what kind of variation is expected and what would be unusual. For these cases, it is possible to go beyond the functionality of the built-in alert with a custom metric.
Blogs
Stupid Things I Did With AI: ASCII Art
By Steve Jones
I ran across this article recently (https://www.gatesnotes.com/meet-bill/source-code/reader/microsoft-original-source-code) and it has a great opening piece...
Simple Talks Podcasting in 2026
By Steve Jones
I’m in the UK today, having arrived this morning in London. Hopefully, by this...
SSMS 22 still inserting tabs instead of spaces
I’m not trying to start up a debate whether you should use tabs or...
Forums
Cumulative Update 23 - KB5074819 - Database Mail - No longer working.
Hi there, Has anyone else had any trouble with Database Mail in Cumulative Update...
Script Task execution error with HTTP request
I have a script task that tries to execute a HTTP request, which seems...
SQL Server 2025 Standard Developer Edition
Comments posted to this topic are about the item SQL Server 2025 Standard Developer...
Question of the Day
URL Safe or Not?
If I use BASE4_ENCODE() in SQL Server 2025, is the output URL Safe by default?
See possible answers