Take a walk
When I need to clear my head, I go for a walk. When I need to think about a problem, I go for a walk. When I need to plan a new talk, I go… Take a walk
All Mac users should do this immediately
This post is a public service announcement for all users of macOS High Sierra (10.13). (Note: Apple has already released a fix, but if you do not have automatic updates enabled, this may still affect… All Mac users should do this immediately
Introducing Azure Data Studio
(Last edited on 9 January 2020) Note: This was originally written for the book SQL Server 2017 Administration Inside Out, but did not meet the publishing deadline. A revised version is now included in the… Introducing Azure Data Studio
MySQL has this feature that SQL Server needs
In the grand scheme of things, MySQL and SQL Server operate in different realms. It’s difficult to compare them because MySQL is predominantly used for websites as part of the free LAMP stack (Linux, Apache,… MySQL has this feature that SQL Server needs
SQL Server 2017 Administration Inside Out
For the last five months or so, I have been helping some really smart people put words on paper, both the physical and electronic kind, which is hopefully going to culminate in an actual technical… SQL Server 2017 Administration Inside Out
T-SQL Tuesday: The Contributing Factor
Ewald Cress writes: Find a person or several people to pick on, and tell us a shareable story or two about how they have made a positive contribution in your life. I’ve known Ewald for… T-SQL Tuesday: The Contributing Factor
Is Transparent Data Encryption just security theatre?
I love theatre. In six months I am putting on two one-act plays for a local festival, because I don’t already have enough on my plate. Security theatre, on the other hand, I don’t like.… Is Transparent Data Encryption just security theatre?
Gimmicks that work: XEvent Profiler in SQL Server Management Studio
[2018-07-03 edit: The original name of this feature was XE Profiler, but it was changed to XEvent Profiler in SSMS 17.4.] I have a favourite new feature of SQL Server Management Studio 17 (SSMS), and… Gimmicks that work: XEvent Profiler in SQL Server Management Studio
Repair a Windows Server 2016 installation
This is more for my benefit in the future, but hopefully it can help someone else too. We recently had problems with a development server not installing Windows Updates. The fix was to repair the… Repair a Windows Server 2016 installation
The perils of RAID
Recently, I was asked to assist an organization with getting their data back for a SQL Server that had experienced physical hard drive failure. I asked a lot of questions about the configuration of the… The perils of RAID
Why is a value in DATETIME2 8 bytes, but in BINARY it is 9 bytes?
In the #sqlhelp Slack channel on the SQL Server Community Slack workspace last month, Jemma Hooper asked: When trying to CAST or CONVERT a datetime2 value to binary(8), I’m getting a “binary or text data… Why is a value in DATETIME2 8 bytes, but in BINARY it is 9 bytes?
Changes to Service Packs and Cumulative Updates for SQL Server 2017
Edited on 10 October 2018: Please note that this model has changed. See Changes to the SQL Server servicing model (Cumulative Updates) for more. The updated information is below. For a few years now, Microsoft… Changes to Service Packs and Cumulative Updates for SQL Server 2017
Compañero Conference and SQL Modernization Roadshow
October is a busy month for me. I am flying all over the US and Canada for speaking engagements to share some thoughts about migrating your SQL Server environment to the cloud (specifically Azure). Compañero… Compañero Conference and SQL Modernization Roadshow
Does rebuilding my clustered index also rebuild my non-clustered indexes?
I’ve been working with SQL Server for many years now, and up until recently, I assumed that rebuilding any clustered index would cause non-clustered indexes to be rebuilt as well, because the non-clustered index includes… Does rebuilding my clustered index also rebuild my non-clustered indexes?
A trillion and one
Joe Obbish wrote an epic post a few weeks ago about loading a trillion rows into a non-partitioned table in SQL Server, using a clustered columnstore index to maximise the compression. (Short version: it’s very… A trillion and one