Robert Sheldon Managing Transaction Logs in SQL Server The Transaction Log provides the means by which either the complete set of tasks of a database transaction are performed... 12 November 2009 17 min read
Grant Fritchey Controlling Execution Plans with Hints The Query Optimizer gets it right most of the time, but occasionally it chooses a plan that isn't the best... 12 November 2009 38 min read
Bob Cramblitt Exceptional DBA Josef Richberg: fighting cancer, but still sharing Josef Richberg is an exceptional person: The Judges of the Exceptional DBA Award were quickly proved right in their decision... 10 November 2009 6 min read
Fabiano Amorim Query Optimizer and Cartesian Products In his continuing quest to bring a deeper understanding of Query Optimizer to the world at large, Fabiano takes a... 22 October 2009 5 min read
Database Administration John Magnabosco in Database Administration Obfuscating your SQL Server Data If you are required to use real production data to test applications, any sensitive data should be "disguised" before loading... 21 October 2009 13 min read
Anith Sen Five Simple Database Design Errors You Should Avoid Anith follows up his highly successful article Facts and Fallacies about First Normal Form with a fascinating discussion of five... 16 October 2009 18 min read
Fabiano Amorim Data Correlation Optimization Internals Having adroitly introduced us, in his previous article, to the Date Correlation ability of the Query Optimizer, Fabiano discusses the... 14 October 2009 10 min read
Laerte Junior Reducing I/O with the ‘Missing Indexes’ DMVs Laerte recently experienced an I/O nightmare, which, as a happy accident, gave him an opportunity to test out the 'Missing... 09 October 2009 14 min read
Ryan Duclos Ten Common SQL Server Reporting Services Challenges and Solutions Many of us who have to develop a Reporting Services (SSRS) application come across various problems, hurdles or 'gotchas' that... 08 October 2009 26 min read
Jacob Sebastian The Art of XSD – eBook Download When information is exchanged in XML format, you need an agreement between the sender and receiver about the structure and... 07 October 2009 1 min read
Brad McGehee Mastering SQL Server Profiler – eBook Download Download Brad McGehee's "from the ground up" guide to SQL Server's most powerful performance diagnostic tool.… 07 October 2009 2 min read
Grant Fritchey SQL Server Execution Plans – eBook Download Why is my query running slow? Why isn't my index getting used? In order to answer these questions, you have... 07 October 2009 1 min read
Robert Sheldon Using Information Schema Views Many seasoned database developers tuck away all the commonly-used INFORMATION_SCHEMA queries as templates. They're an indispensable supplement to sp_help and... 01 October 2009 13 min read
Fabiano Amorim The Query Optimizer: Date Correlation Optimisation In SQL Server 2005, a feature was introduced that was hardly noticed, but which might make a great difference to... 01 October 2009 10 min read
Rodney Landrum Finding Data Corruption In this article, taken from Chapter 8 of his new book, SQL Server Tacklebox, Rodney describes how a working DBA... 29 September 2009 29 min read
Joe Celko Celko’s SQL Stumper: The Data Warehouse Problem Joe Celko comes back with a puzzle that isn't new, but one where the answer he originally gave now seems... 25 September 2009 5 min read
Simon Galbraith Downloading Software: the SQL Prompt 4 Experiment What is the best way for a Software vendor to get people to try out their tools? Is dialogue with... 18 September 2009 5 min read
Joe Celko Causation, Correlation and Crackpots Joe Celko explores the dangers of muddling correlation and causation, emphasises the importance of determining how likely it is that... 15 September 2009 13 min read
Brad McGehee A Code of Conduct for DBAs Despite the fact DBAs are protectors of an organization's knowledge, and privy to much confidential information, there is no clearly... 03 September 2009 14 min read
Hugo Shebbeare Disaster Recovery for SQL Server Databases High-Availability depends on how quickly you can recover a production system after an incident that has caused a failure. This... 28 August 2009 27 min read