From SQL Server On-Premises to Claude Desktop: How I built a Full MCP Pipeline
Learn how to get started with an MCP server that can query your SQL Server database.
2026-07-03
35 reads
Articles
SQL Art, Part 4: Happy 4th of July — A British DBA's Guide to Celebrating a War We Don't Talk About
Another fun article for America's Independence Day using SQL Server's spatial features.
2026-07-03
5 reads
How to stop AI hallucinations in enterprise RAG systems (a complete guide)
From the Air Canada chatbot lawsuit to the infamous Chevy dealership pricing fiasco, this article breaks down the six real reasons RAG systems fail in production – and the five architectural patterns high-performing AI teams use to make them trustworthy, grounded, and production-ready.
2026-07-03
How We Handled a Vendor Retry That Loaded Twice in Snowflake
The vendor file arrived twice overnight, Snowflake loaded both copies without complaining, and finance found the problem before the pipeline did.
2026-07-01
740 reads
Add New Disk to Windows Failover Cluster for SQL Server
I have a 2-node failover cluster instance running on Windows Server 2019 Standard edition. I have a requirement to add a new SAN disk to the SQL Server failover cluster instance (FCI), and then I need to move a user database to that newly added shared disk. Can you show the steps required to add a new disk to the FCI and move the user database?
2026-07-01
Parameter Sniffing in Production: How a 200ms Query Became a 90-Second Outage
Learn how parameter sniffing appeared in a real system and how the issues were solved.
2026-06-29
3,560 reads
SQL Server 2025 Build List
This is a list of the builds for SQL Server 2025. There are other build lists available here. A list of all the builds that I can find and install on my Build VM. If you find a build not listed here, please let the webmaster know (webmaster at sqlservercentral.com). All builds are listed in reverse […]
2026-06-29 (first published: 2025-11-24)
1,233 reads
Never ship a broken semantic model again: how to build automated tests in Power BI with user-defined functions
User-defined functions (UDFs) in Power BI let you build reusable, automated tests for your semantic models — so you catch broken measures, duplicate rows, and faulty relationships before they reach your reports. This article walks through how to use UDFs alongside PQL.Assert to standardize testing across your team, and how to automate those tests with Power Automate or a Fabric Notebook.
2026-06-29
SQL Server Enum Implementation: A Single-Row View Strategy for Avoiding Magic Values
Learn about an alternative strategy for avoiding hardcoded literal values in SQL Server queries by using single-row views designed to mimic enum behavior.
2026-06-26
2,464 reads
Add Nodes to SQL Server 2022 and Windows Server 2022 Failover Cluster
I used the guide in a previous tip on Install SQL Server 2008 on a Windows Server 2008 Cluster Part 1 to install a SQL Server 2008 on a Windows Server 2008 failover cluster (WSFC). Now, I would like to upgrade and migrate my SQL Server 2008 failover clusters to SQL Server 2022 running on Windows Server 2022. What is the process for installation and configuration?
2026-06-26
Blogs
How AgentDBA Identifies Backup Failures
By Arun Sirpal
Every DBA has a box like this. Sitting untouched for months. Nobody’s proud of...
Tip: Expanding a SQL statement
In all recent versions of the database you can call DBMS_UTILITY.EXPAND_SQL_TEXT to get the...
AI Helps Me with My Sloppiness
By Steve Jones
I type fairly well. Well, I type fast, but I do wear out a...
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Question of the Day
Independence Day 2026
In the original Independence Day movie (1996), what type of computer did Jeff Goldblum use to connect to the alien mainframe? Take a guess, don't look it up or ask AI.
See possible answers