Blog Post: Get A Free SQL Server 2014 Book!
I have some great news to share. One of my bucket list items is to be a published author. I can now check this off my list. Coming very soon you will be able to buy the book that I helped write. I...
View ArticleBlog Post: #SQLPASS–Good people, bad behavior…
I’ve written and rewritten this post in my mind 100 times over the last couple of weeks, and I still don’t think it’s right. However, I feel the need to speak up on the recent controversies brewing...
View ArticleBlog Post: Microsoft, Me and the MVP
October 1st is one of the quarterly dates that Microsoft announces all of the new people into the MVP program. It is also a day in which Microsoft recognizes many already in the program and renews...
View ArticleBlog Post: Friday Followup For October 3, 2014
It’s Friday, time to look back at the most popular RealSQLGuy posts of the week. Because it’s Friday and you’re not doing any real work anyway. Posts That Were Popular This Week Cheating DBCC To Fix...
View ArticleBlog Post: Watch Out for Misleading Behaviour From SQL Server
Takeaway: To get consistent behaviour from SQL Server, I share a set of statements I like to run when performing tuning experiments. Inconsistent Behaviour From SQL Server? I often have conversations...
View ArticleBlog Post: Reblog: September 26 to October 2
Photo credit – Husso I’ve always been a fan of the feeling when I find an old blog post that’s got just the information that I need to solve a problem or answer a question. It’s that whole “cha-ching”...
View ArticleBlog Post: Jen's Diary: Figuring it out this week, the Rubik's Cube of data
“Knowing a great deal is not the same as being smart; intelligence is not information alone but also judgment, the manner in which information is collected and used.” Carl Sagan The endless cycle of...
View ArticleComment on SQL Server Configuration Manager giving Error : The remote...
I have sometimes seen this when uses the services.msc console to change the SQL server service credentials rather than using the SQL Server Configuration Manager.
View ArticleBlog Post: SQL Server MVP for a Sixth Year
Thank you to the Microsoft MVP Program for awarding me MVP for six years running! I love this program and look forward to another year of great community events and opportunities to advise and mentor....
View ArticleComment on Hey DBAs, Don’t Be Like the Secret Service!
I recently passed through a similar experience - the only difference was it was in a virtual development environment that we have very limited control over. The drives on one of the storage arrays...
View ArticleBlog Post: #0348 – SQL Server – Msg 1946 – The index entry exceeds maximum...
Having indexes on character columns is fairly common in OLTP systems that deal with multiple look-up values. However, indexes on character columns come with a small catch. The maximum size of an index...
View ArticleBlog Post: Adding and Displaying Comments to Power Pivot Results in an Excel...
Requirement: Allow users to enter comments after they review results from a Power Pivot model and then show the comment text in the Pivot Table report results. Here’s a quick example of the final...
View ArticleBlog Post: Does Full Backup contain data inserted during backup ?
Question : When you take full backup, do it capture data till the time backup start time or till the time backup end. Answer : Full backup capture database till the backup completion time. Let check...
View ArticleBlog Post: You can’t use aggregate/windowing functions with CROSS APPLY
One of my favorite features of CROSS APPLY is the ability to use it instead of a calculated variable . Well recently I was working on performance tuning a rather annoying query (which I will blog...
View ArticleBlog Post: The Question – Why?
The question I get asked a lot by other data professionals at conferences, events, speaking engagements, family, friends, etc. is Why do you do what you do? Why do you put yourself through some of...
View ArticleBlog Post: The DirectSlice Property And Aggregations
A bit of an obscure one, this, but useful to know nonetheless… You may or may not be aware of the DirectSlice property, which can be set on a many-to-many relationship in the Dimension Usage pane in...
View ArticleBlog Post: The full text error and why I was happy to see it.
The Situation: I was recently involved in the migration of a group of core databases from three SQL Server 2005 instances to three SQL Server 2012 instances. There were quite a few moving parts that...
View ArticleBlog Post: Microsoft Azure and Optimized VM images
One of the features I love about Microsoft Azure and using it a POC is that many of the initial upfront “battles” you have to face in an on-prem solution are already done for you. I’m going to be...
View ArticleBlog Post: Non-obvious APS/PDW benefits
The Analytics Platform System (APS) , which is a renaming of the Parallel Data Warehouse (PDW), has a lot of obvious benefits, which I discuss here . For those of you who find your database is...
View ArticleBlog Post: Jen’s Diary: Figuring it out this week, the Rubik’s Cube of data
“Knowing a great deal is not the same as being smart; intelligence is not information alone but also judgment, the manner in which information is collected and used.” Carl Sagan The endless cycle of...
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