A Patch Disaster
What would happen if the wrong patches were applied to your database server? The results could be a huge problem. Steve Jones reminds you to be careful with mass patches.
Introducing Boomerang - A Notification Framework
Boomerang is a notification framework for IT professionals providing service oriented infrastructure with a SQL based rapid development interface.
SQLServerCentral Runs sp_Blitz - Security
A series that looks at the SQLServerCentral database servers using the Brent Ozar Unlimited sp_blitz script. Read about what we learned.
SQL Server T-SQL Tuning -TVF and Scalar Functions
A UDF is very convenient for centralising business logic as we can specify a set of business logic in one UDF which references multiple stored procedures and ad-hoc queries. However, they can lead to significant performance degradation due to their demands on the CPU
SQL Server Rounding Functions - Round, Ceiling and Floor
I saw your recent tip on Calculating Mathematical Values in SQL Server and have some related issues as I try to round values in my application. My users and me have a difference of opinion on some of the calculations in our reporting applications. All of the code is in T-SQL, but I think the reporting issues are related to data types and rounding down or rounding up rules. Do you have any insight into these issues? I would like to see some examples with a variety of coding options.
Statistical Protection
Statistical databases contain lots of information that can be used in a variety of ways, but it can also be abused. Steve Jones talks about some of the problems and potential solutions.
Partitioning in SQL Server - Part 2
Arshad Ali examines the different concepts of partitioning in SQL Server 2012 and provides a step-by-step guide on creating a partition table/index.
Double Counting and Sign Reversals
Make the ad-hoc analysis of identifying potentially double-counted or sign-reversed Accounting transactions simple and painless.
The $50,000 Laptop
The average value of a lost laptop has been found to be much more than you might expect. Steve Jones talks about a recent study.
What Counts for a DBA: Amnesia
Louis Davidson explains why DBAs often need a healthy dose of selective, enforced amnesia about the pain of previous failures.
Blogs
Learn Better: Pause to Review More
By Brian Kelley
If you want to learn better, pause more in your learning to intentionally review.
Azure SQL Managed Instance Next-Gen: Bring on the IOPS
By John
If you’ve used Azure SQL Managed Instance General Purpose, you know the drill: to...
SQL, MDX, DAX – the languages of data
By DataOnWheels
Ramblings of a retired data architect Let me start by saying that I have...
Forums
Two foreign keys to the same table. Can't cascade deletes.
Not sure if this is really a relational theory question but it seems about...
Connecting Power BI to SSAS and effective user not working
Hi everyone, Below is a consolidated summary of what we validated Architecture & data...
High Availability setup - has anyone seen this method?
Hi all, I recently moved to a new employer who have their HA setup...
Question of the Day
Encoding URLs
I have this data in a SQL Server 2025 table:
CREATE TABLE Response ( ResponseID INT NOT NULL CONSTRAINT ResponsePK PRIMARY KEY , ResponseVal VARBINARY(5000) ) GOIf I want to get a value from this table that I can add to a URL in a browser, which of these code items produces a result I can use? See possible answers