Understanding Deadlock Victim Selection in SQL Server
A short introduction to how deadlocks work and how you can affect their behavior inside your system.
2026-07-13 (first published: 2026-05-01)
3,243 reads
T-SQL
T-SQL Trigonometric Functions in SQL Server
Introduction SQL Server includes several built-in mathematical functions that allow developers to perform complex calculations directly within queries. Among these are trigonometric functions such as SIN(), COS(), and TAN(), which are useful in scenarios involving engineering calculations, geographic data processing, simulations, and analytics. Although these functions are straightforward to use, developers occasionally encounter unexpected results […]
2026-04-29
2,554 reads
Creating a Simple and Flexible Random Password Generator in SQL Server
Generating temporary passwords is a common requirement in many applications. Users may need to reset a forgotten password, new accounts may require an initial password, or developers may generate test credentials. While password generation is often implemented in application code, doing it directly in SQL Server provides clear advantages. It centralizes the logic, ensures consistency […]
2026-04-10
2,459 reads
Answering Questions On Dropped Columns
Answering a couple of questions from the previous posts about dropping columns.
2026-03-18
2,194 reads
Elements of the SQL Server Update Statement
Learn how to use the UPDATE statement, along with a few things to be aware of when changing data.
2025-04-11
2,047 reads
Determining Whether Home Addresses Fall Within a Tornado Polygon Using Spatial Functions
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.
2025-03-04 (first published: 2025-03-03)
2,853 reads
Manage Elastic jobs in Azure using Azure Elastic Jobs Manager
Microsoft Azure offers Azure Elastic Job agent as a managed service, enabling efficient scheduling of T-SQL workloads on Azure SQL Databases. Learn how to configure the service in this article.
2024-06-07 (first published: 2024-05-24)
1,921 reads
2024-03-29
9,588 reads
The difference between BIN2 and Case-Sensitive collations in SQL
Here you will learn about the key differences between the binary and SQL/Windows collations. You will see that even with all sensitivity flags enabled, SQL/Windows collation cannot behave the same way as the binary collations.
2024-03-15
2,151 reads
Writing SQL Server code with AI using GitHub Copilot
Introduction In this article, we will see how to work with GitHub Copilot. GitHub copilot is an interesting plug-in that generates code using AI. The technology is from Microsoft and OpenAI. We will show how to install Copilot, and how to generate SQL Server code (T-SQL) using Copilot. First, we will answer some FAQs about Copilot […]
2024-02-12
13,863 reads
Blogs
The #MS_DatabaseConnector## Role: #SQLNewBlogger
By Steve Jones
I had seen these roles in various instances, but never dug into the new...
Asking for Help Isn’t a Weakness
By Brian Kelley
During COVID, I attended training on software/enterprise architecture given by Mark Richards. One of...
The Proof of the Backup Is in the Pudding
For me, the objective is straightforward: have a backup strategy that is reliable, understandable,...
Forums
Pay for Performance
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Pay for Performance, which is...
Access + ODBC Driver 18 + SQL Server 2025: ~150–250 ms per request
Has anyone encountered recurring request latency when using Microsoft Access with SQL Server 2025...
The ##MS_DatabaseConnector## User
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The ##MS_DatabaseConnector## User
Question of the Day
The ##MS_DatabaseConnector## User
On SQL Server 2025, I run this code as a sysadmin:
CREATE LOGIN Demo WITH PASSWORD = 'Demo1234567' GO ALTER SERVER ROLE ##MS_DatabaseConnector## ADD MEMBER Demo GOI then login as Demo and run this:
USE sandbox go SELECT CURRENT_USERWhat is returned? See possible answers