The SQL Server platform is a robust system, designed to handle data in a relational system through the “ACID” properties of transactions. That is, to ensure that any piece of…

There are a bunch of different things I do for clients, so it’s a bit strange to try to think what to write about in response to a question about…

It's not hard to see why Kelly has been recognised as a Microsoft Most Valued Professional, as she did last week. I think everyone who meets her understands right away…

This month (welcome to 2024, by the way) Reitse Eskens (@2meterDBA) asks us about our failures. Our abandoned projects. More specifically, what we’ve learned from them. Thanks Reitse. My failures…

First a quick disclaimer. The timing of this is because saying thank is the theme for this month's T-SQL Tuesday, hosted by Kay Sauter. But the content is something that…

Sometimes query tuning involves taking a different approach to a problem. And given that other tuning options might be creating index(es) or redesigning tables - both of which are much…

Encryption is a funny thing. Since the dawn of communication, whenever people have wanted to keep their secrets secret, they've used some sort of encryption. I'm sure parents started spelling…

This month, Grant Fritchey (@scarydba) asks us to write about Extended Events (XE). He mentions that they were a topic once before (it was in 2015 - more than 8…

Are you a model designer or BI developer tasked with designing a data model and/or report from a series of user requirements or Agile User Stories? Do you know where…

Josephine Bush (@hellosqlkitty) asks us about job titles this month. And it's something I've often wondered about, and haven't really had a clue about for the past fifteen years. My…