Something’s Up with Parallelism in Azure SQL DB Serverless

Or perhaps another way to phrase that is, Microsoft is up to something with parallelism. I don’t know how long it’s been this way – could even be since the launch of Azure SQL DB Serverless – but I just now noticed it while helping a client with a slow query.

Don’t use DISTINCT as a “join-fixer”

I’ve quietly resolved performance issues by re-writing slow queries to avoid DISTINCT. Often, the DISTINCT is there only to serve as a “join-fixer,” and I can explain what that means using an example.

Five database DevOps practices for boosting team productivity

Speed of delivery and protecting data can often feel incompatible, but there are industry-proven database DevOps practices that bring them together in harmony.

Across each of these five key practices, there’s a theme of removing barriers and cognitive load for teams; but crucially, they are also putting safeguards in place to reduce the risks to production environments.

SQL Server Fragmentation Impact with Modern Hardware

Read this article to find out if you still need to worry about SQL Server index fragmentation with modern hardware.

Normalize strings to optimize space and searches

While this article is specifically geared to SQL Server, the concepts apply to any relational database platform. The Stack Exchange network logs a lot of web traffic – even compressed, we average well over a terabyte per month.

Why Database Discussions Have Moved From the Backroom to the Boardroom

There are good reasons why business leaders should care about their databases—and hidden costs for neglecting them. Our CMO, Kate Duggan, wrote about the risks and potential costs in this article on Bloomberg.

Improve Query Performance when SQL Server Ignores Nonclustered Index

In this article, we look at why SQL Server may not use a non-clustered index over the clustered index and what you can do to improve performance.

Mastering a cloud migration: 10 video tips

If you haven’t had time to catch up on our latest full-length webinar on Cloud Migration, here’s an easy way to digest the tips from our experts in less than 20 minutes!

First Normal Form Gets No Respect

Dr. Codd first described the relational model in a paper in Communications of the ACM (CACM 13 No 6; June 1970). Some more work followed up after that by other people, giving us normal forms and other things we have taken for granted for 50+ years.

Power Query Editor in Power BI for Formatting Text Columns

This article looks at ways to clean up text data used in Power BI reports and charts for a more meaningful and consistent message.