Git forked
Forgive me for the title. Mentally I’m 12. When I started my current day job, I certainly didn’t expect to write this many blog posts about Git. I don’t fancy myself an expert by any… Git forked
More fun with Git: git restore
The setup My day job involves babysitting a lot of Git repositories hosted on GitHub. The vast majority of the commits, merges, and squashes I run on a daily basis involve short-lived branches, and I… More fun with Git: git restore
Run SQL Server 2025 and SQL Server Management Studio on macOS Tahoe
Short version (Edit 2025-11-26: If you still want to use containers, Anthony Nocentino has the answer for you here: https://www.nocentino.com/posts/2025-11-26-sql-server-2025-docker-desktop-avx-issue/) You want to get this running as fast as possible. Do these four steps, and… Run SQL Server 2025 and SQL Server Management Studio on macOS Tahoe
Get required permissions for DMVs
Part of my job at work is to update Transact-SQL reference content. System dynamic management views (DMVs) have permissions that are managed in the SQL Server Database Engine source code, so it’s a little tricky… Get required permissions for DMVs
What’s new in SQL Server 2025 CTP 2.0
Three years ago, when the first public preview of SQL Server 2022 (CTP 2.0) was announced, I was a few months in at the SQL Docs team, and had very little to do with that… What’s new in SQL Server 2025 CTP 2.0
The hell of Git line endings and the (not so) simple fix
I wrote a stream-of-consciousness post a few months ago about what I do in my day job at Microsoft, working in the Database Docs team. Basically we spend most of our day in an obscure… The hell of Git line endings and the (not so) simple fix
Choco upgrade, y’all
Chocolatey is a package manager for Windows, like the built-in package managers on Linux, and third-party ones on macOS like Homebrew and MacPorts. The idea is this: when you’re setting up a machine, you don’t… Choco upgrade, y’all
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… Read the error message
Using the Xero OAuth 2.0 API from a .NET Core console application
[Edited on 5 August 2021 with some pseudocode at the end.] 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… Using the Xero OAuth 2.0 API from a .NET Core console application
Using indexed views? What is an imprecise or non-deterministic convert?
After last week’s post about using WITH (NOEXPAND) to query indexed views even on SQL Server Enterprise Edition, this week is a short but interesting side-road into deterministic values, and why it is important to… Using indexed views? What is an imprecise or non-deterministic convert?
Using indexed views? Don’t forget this important tip.
Today after fighting with designing a view that let me create a clustered index on it (indexed views — also known as materialized views — are awesome in the right context!), I kept running into the same… Using indexed views? Don’t forget this important tip.
Convert legacy password storage without aggravating your users
In a previous post I wrote about storing password hashes in a database, which raises the question of how to convert an existing legacy password storage system to use hashes (or even no passwords!) without annoying the… Convert legacy password storage without aggravating your users
What is a container anyway?
Recently there was a thread on Twitter which established that a lot of IT people didn’t know the difference between virtual machines and containers. https://twitter.com/IanColdwater/status/1137737702227550208 I felt like this was a question I’d already answered,… What is a container anyway?
Containers and data: you gotta keep ’em separated
There was an interesting conversation on Twitter recently, between Grant Fritchey (blog | twitter), Kenneth Fisher (blog | twitter), Anthony E. Nocentino (blog | twitter), Vicky Harp (twitter), and me about containers and SQL Server.… Containers and data: you gotta keep ’em separated
SQL Server containers no longer being updated in the Docker registry
In October 2018, Microsoft announced a change to the source of their Docker containers. You should be using the new Microsoft Container Registry (MCR) as the source for official Docker container images for Microsoft products.… SQL Server containers no longer being updated in the Docker registry