SQL Server

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SQL Automate - A DBA's Time-Saving Toolkit

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SQLAutomate is a lightweight PowerShell tool that simplifies SQL Server deployment by automating both installation and post-installation configuration. Whether you're setting up one instance or dozens, this guide shows how to use SQLAutomate to save time and reduce manual work.

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2025-06-06

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SQLServerCentral Article

How to Safely Remove a SQL Server Data File Without Downtime

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Learn how to safely remove a SQL Server .ndf data file without any downtime using DBCC SHRINKFILE (EMPTYFILE). This hands-on tutorial walks through real-world Azure-based setup, data redistribution, and storage cleanup — ideal for DBAs managing enterprise SQL Server environments.

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2025-05-16

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SQLServerCentral Article

Determining Whether Home Addresses Fall Within a Tornado Polygon Using Spatial Functions

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Geographic information systems (GIS) play a critical role in emergency response planning and risk assessment. One of the key challenges in this field is determining whether a specific location falls within an area of interest. This capability is especially valuable for property and casualty (P&C) insurers, who need to assess their insured property exposure when severe weather events such as tornadoes occur.

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2025-03-04 (first published: )

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SQLServerCentral Article

Set up a Windows Server Fail-over Clusters (As a Precursor to High Availability in Standard Edition)

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Setting up High Availability in SQL server has some prerequisites. One of these is that the database servers must be members of the same Windows Server Failover Cluster. In this article I show how to succesfully set up WSFC and activate Cluster Aware Updating

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2024-06-28

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SQLServerCentral Article

SQL Window Functions Series: NTILE()

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Unlock the power of SQL's NTILE function with our latest deep-dive article. Learn to segment your data effectively into quantiles for more nuanced analysis, discover common pitfalls and their solutions, and optimize your queries for peak performance.

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2024-02-03 (first published: )

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Blogs

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Change Tracking Data Retention Options

By Steve Jones - SSC Editor

Comments posted to this topic are about the item Change Tracking Data Retention Options

Requiring Technical Debt Payments

By Steve Jones - SSC Editor

Comments posted to this topic are about the item Requiring Technical Debt Payments

Using the FP-Growth Algorithm to Mine Useful Patterns in Data

By Daniel Calbimonte

Comments posted to this topic are about the item Using the FP-Growth Algorithm to...

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Question of the Day

Change Tracking Data Retention Options

If I am running this code:

ALTER DATABASE AdventureWorks2017 SET CHANGE_TRACKING = ON (CHANGE_RETENTION=4 xxx);
What are the possible choices for xxx?

See possible answers