Timothy Wiseman Python for the SQL Server DBA Python is increasingly used by DBAs as a general-purpose scripting language, despite the pressure to adopt Microsoft's PowerShell. They find... 27 August 2009 8 min read
Robert Sheldon Transact-SQL Formatting Standards (Coding Styles) How should SQL code be formatted? What sort of indentation should you use? Should keywords be in upper case? How... 25 August 2009 25 min read
Joe Celko Getting rid of SQL Code Joe becomes intrigued by the way that experts make errors in any area of technology, and suggests that the problem... 20 August 2009 13 min read
Plamen Ratchev Ten Common SQL Programming Mistakes It is not always easy to spot "antipatterns" in your SQL, especially in more complex queries. In this article, Plamen... 20 August 2009 28 min read
Rodney Landrum SQL Server Tacklebox Free eBook As a DBA, how well-prepared are you to tackle issues such as backup failure due to lack of disk space,... 04 August 2009 3 min read
Pinal Dave Introduction to Change Data Capture (CDC) in SQL Server 2008 Change Data Capture records INSERTs, UPDATEs, and DELETEs applied to SQL Server tables, and makes a record available of what... 03 August 2009 17 min read
Jacob Sebastian An Introduction to SQL Server FileStream Filestream allows us to store and manage unstructured datain SQL Server more easily. Initially, the accounts of FILESTREAM assumed prodigious... 03 August 2009 19 min read
Shawn McGehee SQL Backup 6: Wind of Change One could be forgiven for thinking that there is little more you can do with any third-party Backup software than... 03 August 2009 15 min read
Robert Sheldon Defragmenting Indexes in SQL Server 2005 and 2008 Rob Sheldon tackles the subject of Index Defragmentation in SQL Server 2005 and 2008, using the sys.dm_db_index_physical_stats system function. He... 31 July 2009 15 min read
Rodney Landrum The DBA as Detective: Troubleshooting Locking and Blocking In this article, taken from Chapter 5 of his great new book, SQL Server Tacklebox, Rodney describes in his own... 31 July 2009 24 min read
Roger Hart Continuous Integration with SQL Toolbelt Sometimes, you wish you had a tool to run a software development process exactly the way you need it to... 23 July 2009 17 min read
Joe Celko Celko’s Summer SQL Stumpers: Prime Numbers Joe Celko kicks off our series of Summer SQL Stumpers with a challenge to improve on his solution to calculating the... 23 July 2009 6 min read
Brad McGehee Do Not Forget to Maintain Your Indexes Index Maintenance Plans are essential for the well-being of a database. However, there is more to the process than just... 09 July 2009 15 min read
Bob Cramblitt William Durkin, Serial Red Gate Beta Tester An interview with William Durkin. When he has the time, William finds it useful to work as a pre-release software... 09 July 2009 4 min read
Robert Sheldon Working with Precedence Constraints in SQL Server Integration Services In SSIS, tasks are linked by precedence constraints. A task will only execute if the condition that is set by... 07 July 2009 11 min read
Joe Celko Avoiding the EAV of Destruction A forum posting, from someone who wanted a better solution to the common problem of handling global settings in a... 18 June 2009 11 min read
Brad McGehee Brad’s Sure Guide to Indexes In order to best appreciate the reasons for, or importance of, the various administrative tasks that are needed for indexes,... 11 June 2009 40 min read
Barry King Reporting Services with Style Even when Microsoft neglect a feature, there are always pioneers who find ways of getting around the problem. Such is... 28 May 2009 10 min read
Robert Sheldon Using the FOR XML Clause to Return Query Results as XML The FOR XML clause in SQL Server causes a lot of difficulty, mainly because it is rather poorly explained in... 27 May 2009 36 min read
Jacob Sebastian Introduction to XML Schema What is an XML Schema, and why is it important? How did XSD develop from its precursors, DTD and XDR?... 07 May 2009 14 min read
