sp_describe_undeclared_parameters() promises a great deal, but delivers less. It was added mostly for executing application queries via sp_prepare using a TDS link, but has several quirks and restrictions that rather spoils its more general use. It is designed to provide you with all the parameters of a batch. You might use it when a SQL … Read more
That’s a strange title I hear you say but it’s an honest question. I’ve worked in IT now for over 20 years and have got used to working in an office full of men. In my current role out of about 10 members of the technical team there are 2 of us which, makes it … Read more
I’ve been working on a project unkindly nicknamed ‘The Gloop’ because the code is a bit amorphous. Basically, it is an approach to documenting SQL Server databases, using the facilities provided such as the metadata views and DMFs. Although it is relatively simple to record the result returned by a table-valued function I’d rather neglected … Read more
This script will copy out all the tables from one version of a database in native BCP format, and place them in a directory of your choice, but defaulting to your user area in a directory called BCPFiles. They are placed in sub directories based on your server name and database name, just to keep … Read more
Boy does time fly, and it is already mid January. The holidays flew by, and now the Christmas tree and (most of) the Christmas décor has been boxed up in the attic (yeah, there is a Santa on a shelf staring at me that he needs to be put up!). The college bowl games are … Read more
Power BI and Excel are tools so close to each other that Power BI was born inside Excel. Power Query, Power Pivot, Power View, they were all Excel plugins before being united and become Power BI. The ability to build an ETL, design a model and generate reports and dashboards with great storytelling make Power … Read more
You know what it’s like, you are running a service pack on SQL Server and 99.9% of the time it all runs smoothly but that odd 0.1% of the time when it doesn’t is usually in the middle of the night with no one around to call on. Well to spare you some pain I’ve … Read more
Here, in this blog, I’m continuing a theme that I started in a previous blog, ‘What’s in that database? Getting information about routines’. In that blog, I just wanted to provide a few examples of extracting metadata from SQL Server into Powershell and hinting about why one might want to do it. I’ll now show … Read more
There is a lot of information held in SQL Server metadata about your SQL Server procedures, triggers, views and functions. Some of it is valuable, other nuggets are useful and a few are rather dull but worthy. It really all needs to be tied together to tell the full story, especially if you are not … Read more
It is easy to attach details and documentation to a SQL Server database using extended properties. In fact, you can add a number of items of information to any database objects such as tables, views, procedures or users. If you use JSON to store the information, then you can, in addition, even monitor trends by … Read more
This blog is different than my normal T-SQL blogs I almost always do. But I know that I cannot be the only computer programmer who wants to wear a smart watch when working to get some of the health and alert benefits that they can provide. The band though, has always been a blocker to … Read more
Power BI dataflows is a powerful self-service ETL tool. However, some features demand the use of Power BI Premium, way more expensive than the PRO version and sometimes inaccessible. One of these tasks, for example, is the merge of two tables. Even in the same dataflow, if you have two tables and make the merge, … Read more
Recently, we started adding compression to some of our larger tables in our data warehouse where columnstore indexes didn’t make sense. (For example, some very large dimension tables, and a few facts where they are not used for large aggregates in the common manner). The changes were checked into source control, we monitored performance, all … Read more
It has been a fun summer, sort of. 13 weeks ago, I had my left knee replaced to balance out my other two hip replacements on my right side. This is hopefully the last time that Dr Morrison of Southern Joint Replacement Institute ever has to cut into parts of my body with power tools. … Read more
I don’t know when I first heard about Redgate, but it might have been in 2005 when Steve Jones asked me to review their product, SQL Backup, for SQL Server Central. It was quite the coincidence when my manager asked me a few weeks later if I had heard of SQL Backup and would I … Read more
Once upon a time a SQL Server version that hadn’t row locks. The minimal level of lock was page lock, every time you want to lock a record, an entire page was locked. At that time we were between the devil and the deep sea: if we choose a clustered index with an ascending key … Read more
UPDATE: Read the full report here. Recently, over 800 participants across a range of sectors and from all around the globe took part in a survey about the state of SQL Server monitoring. This survey from Redgate Software is the only one of its kind and is in its second year. Here are some significant … Read more
I nowadays enjoy working with front-end developers using JavaScript, especially now that SQL Server has the tools that allow the SQL Developer to accommodate their requirements. There is less tension now, because if the SQL Server developer can deliver exactly what they need, then there is less temptation to allow users access to base tables, … Read more
My dad and I had a very interesting and complex relationship. Some of this was due to his complex upbringing. His father was an alcoholic who died fairly early in his life, and his mom, well, his mom liked me a lot, but she was a messed up woman in many ways. After his father … Read more
Coming up this weekend, I will be in Virginia Beach, VA for their first ever SQL Saturday event. I have strong ties to the area, as the company I work for is located there, and they are helping me out to be able to come in for the event at a more reasonable pace than … Read more
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