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T-SQL Tuesday Retrospective #002: A Puzzling Situation
For the second T-SQL Tuesday ever — again, hosted by Adam Machanic — we were asked one of three options, and I elected to go with the first one: Describe a confusing situation you encountered, and explain how you debugged the problem and what the resolution was. This invitation was originally posted on 4 January
-> Continue reading T-SQL Tuesday Retrospective #002: A Puzzling Situation
The T-SQL Tuesday Corollary
T-SQL Tuesday is a fantastic series of blog posts derived from over 130 topics over the past 11 years, inviting bloggers to share their thoughts on a particular theme once a month. I’ve even participated in a couple of them myself. Unfortunately, I keep missing the deadline, plus my blog publishes every Wednesday which is
-> Continue reading The T-SQL Tuesday Corollary
A more considered approach to email signatures
This — like last week’s post — is not about SQL Server or Azure SQL Database. In a way, it hearkens back to a post I wrote a few years ago about what it means to be professional. You’re probably doing email signatures wrong This week I’m talking about email signatures. Specifically, three qualities that you
-> Continue reading A more considered approach to email signatures
Read the error message
This post is brought to you — indirectly — from a boss I loved working for, on a project which almost killed me, at a company which I had to walk away from to restore my mental health. I learned a great many things from my boss (and yes, we are still friends). I learned
-> Continue reading Read the error message
How SQL Server stores data types: sql_variant
This post looks at a curious data type that isn’t really a data type. Instead, sql_variant tries to be all things to all people. As with most things in life, it has a few shortcomings as a result. If you would like to read about storage of other data types, here are the previous posts
-> Continue reading How SQL Server stores data types: sql_variant
A new malware attack on SQL Server
Tencent Security has released a report (written in Chinese) describing a new malware attack by the name of “MrbMiner” on SQL Server instances exposed to the Internet with passwords that can be brute-forced. According to the report it installs an application written in C# by the name of assm.exe which communicates with a command-and-control server to download a digital
-> Continue reading A new malware attack on SQL Server
If not me, then who?
[Content Warning: this post contains references to subjects that may trigger a trauma response. Read with caution.]
This is not a technical post. I was going to write about how SQL Server stores the sql_variant data type this week, but something more important came up which involves almost 50% of the adult population worldwide, including me1As some of my readers know — especially if you read my article on SQL Server Central at the end of July 2020 — I am nonbinary, and it would be super convenient to hide behind that label when we have to talk about the behaviour of men. But I look like a man, I sound like a man, and I dress like a man. Unless I tell someone otherwise, the general perception is that I’m a man. For all intents and purposes in this discussion I’m including myself, and I’m calling out other men for their behaviour towards women..
Men, it’s 2020. We have to do better.
It’s hard enough to be a woman online, to exist in the public eye as a woman, to be constantly judged — even rated — according to a manufactured ideal of sex appeal that has no basis in biology or science. Add into that mix a woman who is in a technical field, science, biology, or chemistry, heck, even the arts, and the judgement is increased exponentially. How do I know? Women tell me. Believe women.
How SQL Server stores data types: XML
This week we’re looking at how the database engine stores the XML data type in SQL Server and Azure SQL Database. If you would like to read about storage of other data types, here are the previous posts in the series: Bit columns Dates and times Integers and decimals Money Floating points GUIDs What is XML?
-> Continue reading How SQL Server stores data types: XML
The final word on storage for DATETIME2
Two years ago I wrote a post that got a lot of traction in the comments at the time. Last month there was renewed interest because one of the commenters noted that the official SQL Server documentation for DATETIME2 disagreed with my assertions, and that I was under-representing the storage requirements. To remind you, I
-> Continue reading The final word on storage for DATETIME2
Using the Xero OAuth 2.0 API from a .NET Core console application
This is not a post about SQL Server, but I need to write about something that I’ve been struggling with for a number of weeks so that other people don’t have to. A few months ago Xero announced that they would be moving their API authentication mechanism to OAuth 2.0. This is good news for
-> Continue reading Using the Xero OAuth 2.0 API from a .NET Core console application