The Complete Weekly Roundup of SQL Server News

Hand-picked content to sharpen your professional edge

I spend quite a bit of time looking at the questions on different forums; SQLServerCentral, Quora, Stack Exchange, others. One thing that depresses me just a bit is the desperation you can feel coming off of people. They have either put themselves into, or discovered that they are in, seriously dire straits. They are over their head in terms of experience or technology. Systems are completely beyond their control or current understanding. It’s one of the main reasons I try to help, because I’ve been there.

Unfortunately though, all too often, these same desperate people really don’t want to hear your advice or suggestions for a solution. The reason? It involves more than one button. The truly desperate, those who are utterly over their heads, frequently can’t even begin to process what you’re telling them. They don’t have the knowledge to solve their problem, no. However, they also don’t have the knowledge to understand the solution you’re proposing. It simply adds to their desperation. They grasp at the most flimsy of straws. It’s why you see questions with crazy solutions worked in, “We shrink the database every 15 minutes using a script”, “We set the database to simple four times a day, then back to full”, “We scheduled an automated reboot of the system once a week”… OK, that last one was me back in the SQL Server 6.5 days, but you get the idea.

The problem gets even worse. Frequently, maybe even a majority of the time, if they typed their exact question into a search window, the very first result, in Bing, DuckDuckGo and Google, has exactly the answer they need. So does the second, and the third. The fourth one is usually rubbish. Yet, these people who clearly don’t have many resources, yet were able to find SQLServerCentral, or Quora, or any of the others, were not able to do that simple, immediate, step of typing their question into the search engine. Or, did they, and did they click on that link and did they see the answer and are we back to the fact that the answer didn’t involve pushing the “go faster” button, so we’re back to the first problem.

Let me add the final wrinkle to this horror show. We can’t seem to reach these people. I don’t know where they are on the internet. I don’t know how to get my blog, or the SQLServerCentral and SimpleTalk articles or all the other blogs and articles linked here on Database Weekly in front of these people. How are they able to hide so very well that we can’t get them the information they need?

I am trying to help. It’s a big part of what I do. Yet, if I can’t solve that last little wrinkle, we’re going to keep seeing “well, I’ve put NOLOCK” on every query in the system and it’s still slow, now what” questions. I know we all start somewhere. I know we all come from a position of gross ignorance (especially me). I also know we don’t have to stay there. It’s an act of will to move beyond that state. How do we reach these people and give them the right push so that they can start to use all the resources we have out there?

Grant Fritchey from SQLServerCentral.com

» Join the debate, and respond to today's editorial on the forums

All the headlines and interesting SQL Server information that we've collected over the past week, and sometimes even a few repeats if we think they fit. These headlines are gathered throughout the week and are posted in real time at the website. Check there for information throughout the week or enjoy this weekly summary of the SQL Server world.

Webinars

Extending DevOps to the database: branching and merging - This webinar will focus on branching and merging with Visual Studio Team Services (VSTS) as part of a DevOps approach to database development. It will also show how Redgate tools plug into VSTS to enable the build, test and deployment of your database changes. There will also be plenty of time to ask Grant and Arneh questions. ...(more)

Vendors/3rd Party Products

Effective Database Testing with SQL Test and SQL Cover - A well-established technique for improving application code quality, during software development, is to run unit tests, in conjunction with a code coverage tool. The aim is not only to test that your software components behave as you would expect, but also that your suite of tests gives your code a thorough workout....(more)

Approaches to masking email addresses - There are several ways to to anonymize / pseudonymize email addresses. This post discusses a few frequently used approaches, as well as how you can use Redgate Data Masker for SQL Server to achieve realistic masking of email columns....(more)

Using SQL Monitor to Detect Problems on Databases that use Snapshot-based Transaction Isolation - If you’re using SQL Server’s Read Committed Snapshot Isolation level (RCSI) to avoid long waits for a blocked resource, then you’ll want to monitor for possible side effects. This article describes one way to monitor for such problems, using an alert on version_ghost_record_count, to warn us when the number of row versions in tempdb is getting very high....(more)

T-SQL

Contextual View - In this post I describe technique of presenting data that is context specific - for example, data that will be changing depending who looks at it. ...(more)

When you NEED to Declare a Table Using the OUTPUT Clause - I learned a thing myself at the end! ...(more)

Deleting a lot of data - I recently had the task of deleting a bit over a billion rows from a table. Now I could have done just this: DELETE FROM tablename WHERE createdate >= '1/1/2017' But I have a few problems here. The table has no index on createdate, potentially causing ......(more)

Checking for temporary table existence - Database Code Smells I was recently reviewing a newly created T-SQL stored procedure. This procedure was verifying temporary table existence with the following code:IF exists (select * from tempdb..sysobjects where name like '#fg%') DROP TABLE #fgSeeing ......(more)

Dates and Times in SQL Server: the science of time - Now that we have covered the various date and time data types (see the post from last time) in SQL Server and Azure SQL Database, it’s time to review what we know about time itself and how it is measured, so that we have a basic understanding of how ......(more)

When to use the SELECT…INTO statement - Over the years, there have been factors that have increased or decreased the attraction of SELECT…INTO, but it isn’t part of the ANSII standard and it is definitely a good idea to do without it whenever possible....(more)

Why Doesn’t CONTEXT_INFO() Return the Exact Value Set by SET CONTEXT_INFO? - (last updated: 2018-04-10) Let’s say that you execute the following T-SQL: SET CONTEXT_INFO 1234; SELECT CONVERT(INT, CONTEXT_INFO()); The result will be: 0 Why is that? The value passed in is an INT, which is only 4 bytes, yet CONTEXT_INFO can hold ......(more)

Using SQLCMD End Execution of SQL Commands in a File - This week’s blog is a just about a few simple SQLCMD mode tricks for SSMS, but these tricks have saved me a lot of heartache over the years. If you have not used SQLCMD mode, you probably should be. I don’t intend to introduce SQLCMD too deeply, because ......(more)

What’s in a Name?: Inside the Wacky World of T-SQL Identifiers - Today we are going to take a look into an area that you probably are thinking has very little to see: T-SQL Identifiers (i.e. entity names). Most of the time the rules governing how you name things in SQL Server are pretty simple, but there are several ......(more)

Tools

Shortcut: Create INSERT statements for data in tables using SSMS - Over the years, I’ve had a surprising number of questions on how to output all the data in a table as a series of INSERT statements. SQL Server Management Studio has had the ability to do this for a long time. Here’s an example. In Object Explorer, I’ve ......(more)

Adding the KeyMap Extension in SQL Operations Studio - I’m playing with SQL Operations Studio a bit to get a feel for what works and what doesn’t. So far, I don’t love it over SSMS, but one of the main reasons is that many of my common keyboard shortcuts don’t work. Then I saw this: You can download the ......(more)

T-SQL Tuesday #101 – My day of Essential SQL Server tools. - This month’s T-SQL Tuesday is brought to you by Jens Bestergaard – the subject is Essential SQL Server tools, the original invitation can be found here. Here is how my day of using SQL tools went: It all started at 00:00 this morning with planned maintenance, ......(more)

T-SQL Tuesday #101 – Some Great SQL Server Tools - This month for T-SQL Tuesday #101 Jens Vestergaard asks us to blog about the essential tools in our SQL Toolbelt. http://t-sql.dk/?p=1947 I’d just completed by post on CMS when I realised I’ve blogged about a few of my favourite tools in the past and ......(more)

T-SQL Tuesday #101: My Essential SQL Server Tools - This T-SQL Tuesday is brought to us by Jens Vestergaard (b | t), and we are asked to share our favorite SQL Server tools. Hint Profiler will not be on the list. But where do you start there are so many tools out there. In alphabetical order here are ......(more)

T-SQL Tuesday #101–Tools - This month’s T-SQL Tuesday is brought to you by Jens Vestergaard. The invitation for #101 is for essential SQL Server tools. Since I work for a tool vendor, you can guess that I’m going to be shaded that way. This is the monthly blog party on the second ......(more)

T-SQL Tuesday #101: My Essential SQL Server Tools - This month’s T-SQL Tuesday topic comes from Jens Vestergaard (b|t) who is asking us about our essential SQL Server Tools. I’ve previously written about my Tools of the Trade but that was waaaay back in April 2016 and just after I published that blog, ......(more)

Tech News

Gmail.com redesign includes self-destructing emails - Gmail.com is soon getting its first redesign in seven years, and with that new look comes some new features. We've already heard about new side panels for Google Calendar, Google Keep, and Google Tasks, and now we're getting word of another ......(more)

Security news and thoughts

RIP: Is It the End of the Road for Passwords? - A new web standard is expected to kill passwords, meaning users will no longer have to remember difficult logins for each and every website or service they use. The Web Authentication (WebAuthn) standard is designed to replace the password with biometrics ......(more)

Uber Breach Exposed Names, Emails of More Than 20 Million Users - A data breach exposed the names, phone numbers and email addresses of more than 20 million users of the Uber Technologies Inc. online ride-hailing service, federal authorities said, as they chastised the ride-sharing company for not revealing the lapse ......(more)

The Digital Security Exchange Is Live - Last year I wrote about the Digital Security Exchange. The project is live: The DSX works to strengthen the digital resilience of U.S. civil society groups by improving their understanding and mitigation of online threats. We do this by pairing civil ......(more)

Obscure E-Mail Vulnerability - This vulnerability is a result of an interaction between two different ways of handling e-mail addresses. Gmail ignores dots in addresses, so bruce.schneier@gmail.com is the same as bruceschneier@gmail.com is the same as b.r.u.c.e.schneier@gmail.com. ...(more)

R Language

Creating Facets in SQL Server 2017 Using R - SQL Server 2017 In-Database Machine learning has brought the analytics closer to the data. It is now convenient to do data analytics either by using the programming language R or Python with the database engine. In my previous post, I have demonstrated ......(more)

Chicago Homicides 2018, a Second Look with R - Click to learn more about author Steve Miller. A year ago, I posted a blog on the disturbing 57% increase in Chicago homicides for 2016. There’s been no shortage of loaded commentary since, including strong if misinformed statements by the POTUS. A bit ......(more)

Product Upgrades and Releases

Celebrating 1M installations milestone for mssql extension for VS Code with another update - This post is authored by Alan Yu, Program Manager, SQL Server. We are excited to announce that a new update for the mssql extension for VS Code is now available on the VS Code Marketplace. Use the mssql extension to turn VS Code into a powerful editor ......(more)

Product Reviews and Articles

Trekking Through Formatting Forest on the #SQLPrompt Treasure Map - I enjoy themes, and when I ran across the SQL Prompt Treasure Island, I had to take a few minutes and go through it. I wrote about Code Snippet Cove recently, and this post continues to move across the map. Formatting Forest Walking through a forest ......(more)

Code Snippet Cove on the #SQLPrompt Treasure Map - I’ve been away a bit in the last week with personal and family commitments. As a result, I feel a bit out of touch with work, and I have some catching up to do. However, when I ran across the SQL Prompt Treasure Island, I had to take a few minutes and ......(more)

PowerShell

Bulk uploading CSVs to Azure SQL Database with dbatools - Like most people we’re busy moving ourselves over to Azure, and like a lot of people (even though they won’t admit it) we’ve got years of data stashed away in CSV files. Go on, own up there’s years worth of department membership stashed away in a HR ......(more)

Remove-DbaBackup with dbatools - I really like the dbatools project. This is a series of PowerShell cmdlets that are built by the community and incredibly useful for migrations between SQL Servers, but also for various administrative actions. I have a short series on these items. One ......(more)

PowerShell 6 and the SQL Server PowerShell module: A glimpse of the cross-platform Future - Here's a quick sample of how you can use the SQL Server PowerShell provider in Linux just like you do in Windows. ...(more)

PowerPivot/PowerQuery/PowerBI

Power BI report page tooltip – How to create one in Power BI Desktop - Patrick walks through what a Power BI report page tooltip is and how to create one in Power BI Desktop. This is a feature that was added to Power BI Desktop in the March 2018 release. The post Power BI report page tooltip – How to create one in Power ......(more)

What is Power BI? - In this video, Adam looks at what is Power BI. While people may see bits and pieces of Power BI, they may not understand holistically what Power BI is. From Power BI Desktop to the Power BI service and the mobile app, Power BI is a full suite of tools ......(more)

Performance Tuning SQL Server

SQL Server Logical Query Processing - Recently, while reviewing one of the stored procedure performance, I suggested a couple of changes to a developer to improve the performance of the SP. One of the suggestion was to replace DISTINCT with GROUP BY. A few days later, he came back to me ......(more)

Optimization Thresholds – Grouping and Aggregating Data, Part 1 - An important part of query tuning is understanding the algorithms that are available to the optimizer to handle various query constructs, e.g., filtering, joining, grouping and aggregating, and how they scale. This knowledge helps you prepare an optimal ......(more)

A Case of Inconsistent Wait Stats and Query Duration - You know how they say “don’t sweat the small stuff”? That’s good advice for lots of things, but when it comes to query tuning – I WANT TO KNOW MORE when something is inconsistent. I just can’t let it go. I go total X-Files: The Truth Is Out There. The ......(more)

Memory Grant Feedback and data skew - The new adaptive query processing features in SQL Server 2017 are useful for fixing performance problems that were previously very hard to fix. They’re not perfect though, and one of the problems with memory grant feedback in particular is that it’s ......(more)

SQL: Should I focus on reads or writes in SQL Server? - I'm involved in a lot of performance tuning work for SQL Server based applications. These are mostly your typical OLTP accounting, financial, or record keeping applications. One thing that constantly surprises me is that many developers and DBAs really ......(more)

NoSQL

How to Choose the Right NoSQL Database for Your Application? - Click to learn more about author Akshay Pore. This is the second part of an on-going series on NoSQL Databases, the first part was NoSQL Data Architecture & Data Governance: Everything You Need to Know. In that first part, I explained different NoSQL ......(more)

Microsoft News

Project Honolulu Graduates, Say Hello to Windows Admin Center - While Honolulu may have invoked thoughts of warm tropical breezes and fruity drinks on the beach, Microsoft’s Project Honolulu has graduated and reached general availability. The remote management experience will now be called Windows Admin Center. This ......(more)

MDX/DAX

Expanded tables in DAX - Expanded tables are the core of DAX; understanding how they work is of paramount importance. This article provides a theoretical foundation of what expanded tables are, along with fundamental concepts useful when reading DAX code. An expanded table ......(more)

The Binary.InferContentType M Function - The April 2018 release of Power BI Desktop included a new M function: Binary.InferContentType. There’s no online documentation for it yet but the built-in documentation is quite helpful: I tested it out by pointing it at the following simple CSV file: …and ......(more)

Hardware News

Intel’s Core i5+, Core i7+ CPUs with Bundled Optane SSDs Hit Retail - Earlier this month Intel introduced its Core i+ processor brand for desktops and laptops. The brand-within-a-brand setup sees Intel's 8th gen Core i5, i7, and i9 CPUs bundled with its Optane caching SSDs and sold as the i5+, i7+, and i9+ respectively. ...(more)

The Dell Latitude 13 7390 2-in-1 Review - Dell’s XPS lineup of consumer laptops are some of the best in the business, and Dell started the thin-bezel trend that has now taken over the industry. But if you’re in the market for a business laptop and the practicality that implies, their Latitude ......(more)

HA/DR/Always On/Clustering

SQL SERVER – Steps to Migrate Cluster Storage from Old Disks to Newly Attached Disks - One of my clients consulted me for the best and easy method for migrating the Cluster Storage from old to newly attached disks. They wanted to move/reconfigure disks mapped to SQL Server, MSDTC, Quorum. At present, they were using SQL Server 2014 as ......(more)

Checking Availability Groups with dbachecks - It’s been 45 days since we released dbachecks Since then there have been 25 releases to the PowerShell Gallery!! Today release 1.1.119 was released There have been over 2000 downloads of the module already. In the beginning we had 80 checks and 108 ......(more)

Graph Databases

SQL Server Graph Databases – Part 3: Modifying Data in a Graph Database - SQL Server 2017 makes it possible to implement graph databases within a relational table structure, allowing you define complex relationships between data much easier than with traditional approaches. Under this model, nodes (entities) and edges (relationships) ......(more)

ETL/SSIS/ELT

Testing database connections with ssisUnit - Previously we successfully prepared tests for variables and parameters using VariableCommandand and ParameterCommand. Now it’s time to communicate with the database, and for that, I will use connection manager defined on the project level. I know from ......(more)

DevOps and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD)

Shift LEFT magazine: Issue 3 - The latest issue of Redgate’s Database DevOps magazine explores the benefits of DevOps for CEOs, CIOs, and IT Managers, and takes a comprehensive look at the new General Data Protection Regulation, providing a valuable insight into how organizations can meet its demands....(more)

5 challenges to scaling DevOps at enterprise level - Many large enterprises launch small DevOps initiatives within certain departments, but subsequently find that scaling DevOps across the organization faces a number of challenges that must be overcome....(more)

Infrastructure: Setup Octopus Deploy to use Redgate DLM Automation - Automated database deployments is a critical aspect of any continuous integration pipeline. The tooling today has made it very easy to get that added, especially if you use Octopus Deploy and Redgate DLM Automation. It is very easy to add the necessary ......(more)

Database Design, Theory and Development

SQL Server Closure Tables - You’ll find self-referencing tables being used to represent hierarchies in SQL databases, and they seem like an elegant recursive way to do it: AdventureWorks2016 has three of them, including one to map the staff hierarchy. The problem is, of course, ......(more)

Opinion: Which SQL Server columns should be nullable – no place for Magic values - In a recent blog post, I wrote about the ANSI_NULLS option for tables and after that I had several more questions related to NULL values. Note that I mentioned NULL values, not values of NULL, and not values equal to NULL. That's because "being NULL" ......(more)

Data Science

Lighting a Fire Under Enterprise Data Science - How do we characterize a good Data Science professional? A well-trained Data Scientist can deal with dirty data and knows how to cleanse it the right way to avoid compromising analysis at the back end. He or she is the individual who the CEO should be ......(more)

Data Privacy and GDPR

How to catalog, protect, and monitor SQL Server for GDPR compliance - The GDPR makes it essential for SQL Server teams to maintain a living data catalog and to put in place controls and processes up front to protect personal data. But this doesn’t mean you need to lock your data away or slow down your development processes....(more)

Execution Plans and Data Protection - If you want to get feedback on why your query is running slowly, then sharing its execution plan is the best way to get help, and the more information you include, the better feedback you can expect. However, many people are completely unaware of how ......(more)

As Zuck testifies to Senate, Democrats propose tough opt-in privacy law - Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | Iain Masterton) Two Democratic US senators today proposed a "privacy bill of rights" that would prevent Facebook and other websites from sharing or selling sensitive information without a customer's opt-in consent. The ......(more)

GDPR: From Panic to Practical Response - The countdown to the May 25, 2018 General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) enforcement deadline is almost at zero, causing some organizations to panic, and others to procrastinate, hoping for a miracle. A whitepaper by ASG Technologies compiled with ......(more)

GDPR, Database Backups, and the Right to be Forgotten - I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating, there is no cause for any kind of panic when it comes to the GDPR. None. There are however, a number of concerns. One of those concerns is, well, concerning. How does the right to be forgotten within the GDPR ......(more)

Conferences, Classes, and Events

Training Week: Data Science Fundamentals with a Real Project - When Steph Locke first ran her Data Science Fundamentals with R class, I was amazed at the work she put into the hands-on labs for the students. They had real challenges to help them learn how to model different kinds of data and learn answers from it. I ......(more)

Training Week: Announcing Ben Miller’s PowerShell for DBAs: Level 2 - Drew Furgiuele‘s PowerShell for DBAs class has been getting rave reviews, including: “Fantastic class! This is the best online training I’ve ever taken. Very slick setup using the webinar for learning, an AWS VM for labs, and slack for interacting with ......(more)

DBA Fundamentals–Tuesday 11 Central–Execution Plans - WThis will be a Beginners session highlighting the starting point for using execution plans....(more)

Please join me for my PASS Summit Pre-Con with Melissa Coates - I’m excited to announce that I’m joining forces with Melissa Coates (aka SQL Chick) to do a full-day PASS Summit Pre-Conference Session this year! We’ll be talking about Designing Modern Data and Analytics Solutions in Azure. Many traditional data warehousing ......(more)

Professional and Proficient PowerShell: From Writing Scripts to Developing Solutions at PASS Summit - PASS Summit is the largest conference for technical professionals who leverage the Microsoft Data Platform. PASS Summit 2018 is happening November 5th – 9th 2018 in Seattle. It is an amazing conference. I attended last year and thoroughly enjoyed every ......(more)

PASS Summit 2018 Pre-con:Fixing Query Performance Problems from Estimates, Statistics, Heuristics, and Cardinality - PASS has publicly announced their Pre-conference Sessions for the PASS Summit 2018 in Seattle, WA. There are seven sessions on Monday, November 5, 2018, and nine sessions on Tuesday, November 6, 2018. There are good sessions on both days, from many well-known ......(more)

Training Week: PASS Summit 2018 Pre-Con: Performance Tuning in 21 Demos - Performance Tuning in 21 Demos You’re a developer or DBA who wants to tune indexes and queries to make your application go faster. You don’t like learning by watching slides or reading white papers – you want to jump right into the code and see what ......(more)

Training Week: Announcing Edwin’s New Class on Failover Clustered Instances - This week, we’ve got a bunch of announcements about new training classes. Next up, Edwin Sarmiento: his 3-day Always On Availability Group class has been getting great reviews: “This class is fantastic. There is no filler, and no needless repetition, ......(more)

Privacy and Protection, By Design - With all the noise about the upcoming enforcement of GDPR, I know that people are starting to focus more on privacy and protection. Add in all the other news about data breaches and data leaks and suddenly, privacy and protection isn’t just a business ......(more)

Upcoming Free Webcast: DBA vs Memory Settings - Join me in two weeks for a really fun free webcast! DBA vs Memory Settings Tues, April 24, 2018 – 8:30AM Pacific / 11:30AM EasternQuest Free Webcast External memory pressure: What is it and how does it affect SQL Server? In this session, I am teaming ......(more)

Best Practices and Essential Tools for GDPR Compliance - With just over three months until the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into force in the European Union, many organizations are still struggling to prepare for the new regulation. After all, with so many chapters and articles full of c ......(more)

Redgate’s SQL Privacy Summit – London, 18 May - Are you responsible for data privacy and protection of SQL Server databases in your organization? Then you might be interested in Redgate’s brand new conference, the SQL Privacy Summit, taking place in London on Friday 18 May....(more)

Training Week: Announcing a New Instructor: Kalen Delaney! - Kalen Delaney has been a Microsoft MVP for SQL Server since 1993. She is the author of several highly regarded books, including Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Internals, SQL Server Concurrency, SQL Server MVP Deep Dives, and SQL Server Internals of In-Memory ......(more)

Register for My Free Session on Execution Plan Forcing - I am excited to be giving a free online session as part of the Idera Live Virtual Conference, 2018! Here are the details on my session: To Force Plans, or Not to Force Plans, That Is the Question Wed, May 16, 2018 – 9AM Pacific / Noon Eastern We have ......(more)

Computing in the Cloud (Azure, Google , AWS)

DevOps: What is a managed service? - Some time back, I decided to use a WordPress host for my blog because the time for me at sqlblog.com was coming to an end, community service was on its last legs, and WordPress seemed the obvious platform for a blog. Fellow MVP Adam Machanic made it ......(more)

Cost savings of the cloud - I often hear people say moving to the cloud does not save money, but frequently they don’t take into account the savings for indirect costs that are hard to measure (or the benefits you get that are simply not cost-related). For example, the cloud allows ......(more)

Very Large Database Migration to Azure – Recommendations & Guidance to Partners - SAP systems moved onto Azure cloud now commonly include large multinational "single global instance" systems and are many times larger than the first customer systems deployed when the Azure platform was first certified for SAP workloads some years ago Very ......(more)

Career Growth

Data engineers vs. data scientists - The two positions are not interchangeable—and misperceptions of their roles can hurt teams and compromise productivity.It’s important to understand the differences between a data engineer and a data scientist. Misunderstanding or not knowing these differences ......(more)

Azure SQL Database

New Azure SQL Database Pricing Model - Azure SQL Database has some great built-in features that are included in the price like automatic backups, high availability, auditing and threat detection, transparent data encryption. No matter how excited people are when I talk to them about Azure ......(more)

Azure SQL Database and Columnstore Indexes - I have come to understand the importance of using columnstore indexes when my queries are aggregating and scanning across many millions of rows. Since I mostly work with Azure SQL Database I was pretty exciting to hear about columnstore support in the ......(more)

Azure SQL Data Warehouse and Data Lake

Azure SQL DW – Let’s Shuffle? - Initially, the main focus of this post was going to be quick and about using the latest version of SSMS (SQL Server Management Studio) to check out execution plans for Azure SQL Data warehouse (DW). I got a little side tracked by a certain operation ......(more)

Using Elastic Query to Support SQL Spatial in Azure SQL DW - Recently we had a requirement to perform SQL Spatial functions on data that was stored in Azure SQL DW. Seems simple enough as spatial has been ......(more)

Azure CosmosDB

ASP.Net Core 2 w/ Cosmos DB: Getting Started - I am building the basic foundation for a B2C web application, using ASP.Net Core 2 and Cosmos DB. Along the way I’m going to need authentication, source control, CI/CD, … but first I have to start learning what’s changed in ASP.Net Core 2 and how to ......(more)

Analysis Services / BI on the MS Stack

SQL SERVER – Error: 1067 – Unable to Bring Analysis Service Online in Cluster - Even after working with many clients on various issues (Always On, Deployment, Performance Tuning) I always get new challenges as a part of my freelancing job. One thing I have learned is that one needs a systematic approach to diagnose the issue and, ......(more)

Dynamic RLS support for Analysis Service Tabular Model based on multiple roles for each user - Hello everyone, I am sure that whenever you wanted to implement Row Level Security(RLS) for Analysis Services Tabular Mode you might be wondering how I will implement RLS ......(more)

AI/Machine Learning/Cognitive Services

4 things business leaders should know as they explore AI and deep learning - Our survey reveals how organizations are using tools, techniques, and training to apply AI through deep learning. We’re at an exciting point with artificial intelligence (AI). Years of research are yielding tangible results, specifically in the area ......(more)

How to call bullshit on AI companies (aka a short lesson on recall) - Now that software ate the world, what’s for dessert? Those in the know know that it’s AI. It seems everyone took Kevin Kelly’s recommendation to “take X and add AI” to heart. Fast forward to 2018 and all startups tout adding AI to X. There’s a fine line ......(more)

Administration of SQL Server

Understanding database recovery models in SQL Server - A recovery model is a database configuration option that determines the type of backup that one could perform and provides the ability to restore the data or recover it from a failure. The recovery model decides how the transaction log of a database ......(more)

three ways to track logins using dbatools - Years ago, I wrote Watch-DbaDbLogin which keeps an inventory of accounts, hosts and programs that log into a SQL Server. It was pretty crude, but helped immensely during my migration, as this inventory ensured that my documentation was in order and no ......(more)

How To Hide an Instance of SQL Server - If you have ever wanted to hide an instance of SQL Server, this is the post for you. Read on. When you launch SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS), you see the option to connect to an instance. If desired, you have the ability to browse instances running ......(more)

SQL Server Agent Job Activity - SQL Server Agent provides a graphical user interface to inspect the status of agent jobs. The Job Activity Monitor looks like: However, if you want to programmatically obtain the detail about running jobs, including details... The post SQL Server Agent ......(more)

What’s CHECKDB doing in my database restore? - Recently I was doing some work with a friend around some database restores. It was pretty routine stuff. However, after one restore my friend came across something in the SQL Error Log that caught him by surprise. As part of the restore, there was a ......(more)

SQL SERVER – FIX: Error: 5511 – FILESTREAM’s file system log record under log folder is corrupted - Many times, people have asked me to share my experiences as a freelance consultant. This is one of the experiences I would like to share. Sometimes, I have been in a situation where I have to ask a restart of SQL Server. The situation becomes stressful ......(more)

How to Check SQL Server View Utilization - If you are working on SQL Server optimization delicately, you may get often queries that how to find if any index, table or view is being used in database or not. In recent past, we went live for one of the critical application. The developers decided ......(more)

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