Stairways

To keep up to date with all the technologies in SQL Server, the DBA or developer who wants to stay ahead is faced with the struggle of constant learning. How do you keep up while avoiding information overload, unnecessary detours and dead-ends?

The SQL Server Stairways is our solution to this problem. Designed to smooth out even the steepest learning curve, each Stairway is a SQL tutorial series focused on a single topic and is arranged into no more than a dozen easily-navigable tutorials that we call 'steps'. Each step is the length of a typical magazine tutorial, and emphasizes practical, hands-on learning, with just enough background theory to help you understand the topic at a deeper level.

Using straightforward language and avoiding jargon and marketing babble, each Stairway tutorial series is designed to take you from zero knowledge of a particular SQL Server topic to a level of practical understanding that will allow you to start using that feature in a production environment. The learning gradient is steady and manageable, but also brisk. You won't be wasting time.

Happy climbing!

Stairway to Data

Stairway to Data

IT projects can hit problems that turn out to be due to an insufficient understanding of the basic data and data-types, rather than the database design. It is a sorely neglected topic that might seem to be trivial, but certainly isn't. The DBA, with a broad perspective on corporate data can do a great deal to help application developers to avoid the common mistakes that so often happen, and Joe Celko's Stairway gives the busy IT professional a crash course to understanding the nature of the data being processed.

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2019-03-26 (first published: )

4,911 reads

Stairway to Database Design

Stairway to Database Design

New to the task of designing and creating a database? Joe Celko, who is one of the most widely read of all writers about SQL, explains the basics. As usual, he comes up with the occasional surprise for even the most seasoned database professional. Joe was the winner of the DBMS Magazine Reader's Choice Award four consecutive years. He has taught SQL in the US, UK, the Nordic countries, South America and Africa.
He served 10 years on ANSI/ISO SQL Standards Committee and contributed to the SQL-89 and SQL-92 Standards.

4.5 (2)

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2019-03-26 (first published: )

10,446 reads

Stairway to Integration Services

Stairway to Integration Services

Integration Services is one of the most popular subsystems in SQL Server. It allows you to Extract, Transform, and Load (ETL) data between a variety of data sources and programmatically change data in any manner you can think of and script in C#.

4.67 (6)

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2019-03-26 (first published: )

32,317 reads

Stairway to SQL Server Agent

Stairway to SQL Server Agent

SQL Server Agent is at the heart of any live database system. The Agent has a number of uses which aren't always obvious, and so a knowledge of the system is always useful, to developers as well as DBAs. Richard Waymire provides a simple explanation of its many uses.

3 (1)

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2019-03-26 (first published: )

5,196 reads

Stairway to Streaminsight

Stairway to StreamInsight

Microsoft StreamInsight™ is designed to assist in developing Complex Event Processing (CEP) applications in .NET This is appropriate for stream sources tsuch as those in manufacturing applications or financial trading applications. StreamInsight provides the means to monitor, manage, and mine several sources simultaneously for conditions,trends, exceptions, opportunities, and defects almost instantly. It is ideal for performing low-latency analytics on the events and triggering response actions, and for mining historical data to continuously refine and improve definitions of alerting conditions. Johan provides a simple explanation of the system in a series of practical articles.

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2019-03-26 (first published: )

521 reads

Stairway to SQL Server on Linux

Stairway to SQL Server on Linux

SQL Server 2017 is the first SQL Server version that can be installed on Windows, Linux and inside a Docker container. This stairway series serves as a guide for the experienced SQL Server DBA to acquire skills and knowledge on this platform. This is an introductory series to installing Linux and SQL Server on Linux.

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2018-08-09

2,976 reads

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Question of the Day

Vector Datatype Dimensions

The new vector datatype in SQL Server 2025 requires a number dimension parameter. What is the maximum number of dimensions supported?

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