Avoiding Parameter Sniffing in SQL Server
Parameter sniffing is when SQL Server compiles a stored procedure’s execution plan with the first parameter that has been used and then uses this plan for subsequent executions regardless of the parameters.
SQL Server Should Work for Us
SQL Server is a great platform, but there are problems in places. Steve Jones thinks that fixing some issues might be a good investment for Microsoft.
Check If a SQL Server Database Is In Pseudo-Simple Recovery Model Using Windows PowerShell
Check if databases are really in FULL recovery model with a recovery model called pseudo-simple, where the database still behaves like it is still in SIMPLE recovery model until a full database backup is taken.
The Best Programmers
How do keep the best programmers? Steve Jones has a few thoughts that might cause you to rethink how you manage your programming stars.
Attention users running SQL Server 2008 & 2008 R2!
Updates to the latest CUs for SQL Server 2008 and SQL Server 2008 R2 from Aaron Bertrand.
Managing Slowly Changing Dimension with MERGE Statement in SQL Server
Slowly Changing Dimension (SCD) Transformation is a quick and easy way to manage smaller slowly changing dimensions but it has several limitations and does not perform well when the number of rows or columns gets larger. Arshad Ali explores some of the alternatives you can use for managing larger slowly changing dimensions.
PASS Data Architecture Virtual Chapter presents Steve Simon
On Thursday June 20 at 12 noon Central time, Steve Simon will discuss the challenges of designing financial warehouses.
Losing Data
As data professionals, we want to avoid losing data. We won't always be successful, but we can avoid making the easy mistakes.
PowerShell vs GUI Availability Group Rebuild
Windows Cluster\SQL Availability Group rebuild times comparison - Management Studio & Cluster Manager Vs PowerShell Commands
Blogs
T-SQL Tuesday #202 SQL Server Outage You’ll Never Forget: A Roundup
When I put together the invitation for T-SQL Tuesday #202, I wasn't sure what...
A Last Minute Trip to the EU
By Steve Jones
My life has some crazy travel stretches for sure. Between speaking, office visits, customer...
Part 3 of 3: Tuning DiskANN — R, Alpha, L, Beam Width, Recall and Latency
In Part 1, we saw how ‘Vamana’ represents vectors as nodes, connects them with...
Forums
Server-Level Table sizes
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Server-Level Table sizes
Optional Parameter Plan Optimization in SQL Server 2025: Fixing the Kitchen-Sink Search Procedure
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Optional Parameter Plan Optimization in...
Question of the Day
ORDER BY alias
There is a table tmp_tab:
CREATE TABLE tmp_tab ( id int, val int );
INSERT INTO tmp_tab VALUES (1, 1), (2, NULL), (3, 3), (4, 4), (5, 5);You want to order the rows ids by the following expression:
ISNULL(val, id) + 1Which of the following queries produces the expected ordering and why? (Select all correct) See possible answers