Dave Green Using SQL Test Database Unit Testing with TeamCity Continuous Integration With database applications, the process of test and integration can be frustratingly slow because so much of it is based... 02 February 2012 22 min read
Robert Sheldon Converting String Data to XML and XML to String Data We all appreciate that, in general, XML documents or fragments are held in strings as text markup. In SQL Server,... 01 February 2012 18 min read
Brad McGehee How to Document and Configure SQL Server Instance Settings Occasionally, when you install identical databases on two different SQL Server instances, they will behave in surprisingly different ways. Why?... 30 January 2012 74 min read
Rob Garrison What’s the Point of Using VARCHAR(n) Anymore? The arrival of the (MAX) data types in SQL Server 2005 were one of the most popular feature for the... 30 January 2012 11 min read
Phil Factor Confessions of a DBA: My worst mistake Over the next few months, we'll be asking various well-known DBAs to describe their worst disaster caused by a mistake... 23 January 2012 6 min read
Grant Fritchey SQL Cop Review Static code analysis is used a lot by application programmers, but there have been surprisingly few tools for SQL development... 19 January 2012 7 min read
Jonathan Kehayias Great SQL Server Debates: Buffer Cache Hit Ratio One of the more popular counters used by DBAs to monitor the performance, the Buffer Cache Hit Ratio, is useless... 18 January 2012 15 min read
Robert Young Relational Databases and Solid State Memory: An Opportunity Squandered? The relational model was devised long before computer hardware was able to deliver an RDBMS that could deliver a fully... 17 January 2012 6 min read
Alex Kuznetsov Close Those Loopholes: Lessons learned from Unit Testing T-SQL Alex has done some pioneering work on the testing of stored procedures over four years, and has learned a great... 09 January 2012 23 min read
Fabiano Amorim Window Functions in SQL Server: Part 3: Questions of Performance A SQL expression may look elegant on the page but it is only valuable if its performance is good. Do... 04 January 2012 12 min read
Robert Sheldon Incorporating XML into your Database Objects XML data can become a full participant in a SQL Server Database, and can be used in views, functions, check... 04 January 2012 14 min read
Sam Bendayan Constraints and the Test-Driven Database Bad data always seems to appear when, and where, one least expects it. Sam explains the great value of a... 14 December 2011 13 min read
Feodor Georgiev Administrating SQL Server Integration Services – Planning, Documenting and Troubleshooting SQL Server Integration Services is an essential component of SQL Server, and designed to perform a variety of routine and... 12 December 2011 15 min read
Jonathan Kehayias Great SQL Server Debates: Lock Pages in Memory There has been much debate over the need for the Lock Pages in Memory privilege, on 64-bit versions of SQL... 12 December 2011 19 min read
Robert Sheldon The XML Methods in SQL Server The XML Data type has definite uses, but the way of interrogating, retrieving, and manipulating the values of properties and... 08 December 2011 22 min read
Grant Fritchey Backup Verification: Tips for Database Backup Testing A Backup system is merely part of a recovery system. If your backups can't be used to recover the database,... 06 December 2011 4 min read
Grant Fritchey Faster Restores: Best Practices to Increase Speed Backups are an everyday part of DBA life, whereas restores tend to happen on call at 3 a.m. In this... 02 December 2011 5 min read
Database Administration Grant Fritchey in Database Administration Grant Fritchey’s SQL Server Howlers We decided to ask various well-known SQL Server people to write about their favourite SQL Server Howlers. These are the... 30 November 2011 16 min read
Fabiano Amorim Window Functions in SQL Server: Part 2-The Frame Fabiano continues his introduction to SQL Server's implementation of the window functions by giving a history of what got implemented... 24 November 2011 13 min read
Richard Morris Jeff Moden: DBA of the Day Jeff Moden's election to the Exceptional DBA of the Year award for 2011 was a popular one. Although all the... 24 November 2011 17 min read
