SQL Art: I Made a Christmas Card In SSMS
A little Christmas fun for you using the spatial features in SQL Server and SSMS.
2025-12-24
4,104 reads
Articles
Steps for Installing AlwaysOn Availability Groups - SQL 2019
With SQL Server 2012 Microsoft introduced the AlwaysOn Availability Group feature, and since then many changes and improvements have been made. This article is an update to another article, and will cover the prerequisites and steps for installing AlwaysOn in your SQL Server 2019 environment. Prerequisites Before implementing your AlwaysOn Availability Group (AG), make sure […]
2025-12-24 (first published: 2025-11-25)
985 reads
SQL Server Change Tracking to Optimize Data Refreshes for Reporting
You’re a developer responsible for maintaining a SQL Server database used to feed data to Power BI. You realize that some tables don’t have a modifiedDate column and some do. Also, you know the data is updated by the application as well as other processes which makes the modifiedDate unreliable. This is because it may not always be updated when data changes. You need a way to track data changes to ensure only changed rows are updated on reports in Power BI.
2025-12-24
2025-12-22
9,322 reads
Get ChatGPT’s Advice On Your Queries with sp_BlitzCache.
First off, I understand if you read the headline and you have a knee-jerk reaction. I totally understand that there are a lot of people out there who hate AI, and believe me, I hate most uses of it. Lots of its advice can be misleading at best, and absolute garbage at worst.
2025-12-22
T-SQL in SQL Server 2025: The || Operator
I have been working in various computer languages for a long time. When I saw that the || operator was coming, I was a bit confused as to why we needed this, and how it would work. After all, this is a part of other languages. I decided to dig in a bit. This is […]
2025-12-19
8,398 reads
SQL Server 2025 Product() Function Examples
SQL Server 2025 includes new features and enhancements. In the previous SQL Server 2025 tips, we have explored many new features. Have you explored the new Product() function? If not, this will walk you through the Product() function with several examples.
2025-12-19
15 Practical Tips for Securing SQL Server
Securing SQL Server isn’t complicated, but it does require consistent attention to the areas where real risks arise, such as privileges, configuration, encryption, patching, and monitoring. This article outlines 15 practical, high-impact steps you can take to harden your SQL Server environment.
2025-12-17
Think LSNs Are Unique? Think Again - Preventing Data Loss in CDC ETL
When using only an LSN to track which changes you have processed, you can lose data. This article shows how to avoid this problem.
2025-12-15
2,561 reads
Query Exercise Answer: Generating Big TempDB Spills
In last week’s Query Exercise, I challenged you to play some code golf to generate big spills with tiny T-SQL.
2025-12-15
Blogs
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Creating JSON II
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Question of the Day
Creating JSON II
On SQL Server 2025, what happens when I run this code:
SELECT JSON_OBJECTAGG( N'City':N'Denver' RETURNING JSON) GOSee possible answers