Count(*) or Count(1) ?
Every so often on the on-line forums, the question of : Which is better Count(*) or Count(1) ? will occur. So can...
2010-07-27
1,469 reads
Dave Ballantynes blog
SQLBits 7
For those that may of missed it, voting for SQLBits sessions is now open. Make your voice heard and get...
2010-07-20
399 reads
Using a UDF as a SARG. Make a hash of it!
I am somewhat uncomfortable blogging this, as I feel that it falls into “Polish a turd” category. Having said that,...
2010-07-02
729 reads
Kent Sql Server UserGroup
One of my back burner projects is to setup a local user group.
I'm delighted to now say that this is...
2010-06-28
404 reads
SQL 101 : Without “ORDER BY”, order is not guaranteed.
It’s as simple as that. If you don’t specify ORDER BY, then the order of your result set is not...
2010-06-26
714 reads
SQL Server XML Schemas
Ever been curious about the schema of , say an SSRS rdl file ? How about the execution plan ?
Not only should...
2010-06-15
494 reads
Challenge 19 – An Explanation of a Query
I have received a number of requests for an explanation of my winning query of TSQL Challenge 19. This involved...
2010-05-27
1,705 reads
Increasing deadlocks with NoLock
One of my personal pet issues is with inappropriate use of the NOLOCK hint (and read uncommitted) . Don't get me...
2010-04-23
749 reads
Cross Apply Ambiguity
Cross apply (and outer apply) are a very welcome addition to the TSQL language. However, today after a few hours...
2010-03-26
1,923 reads
Output = MAXDOP 1
It is widely know that data modifications on table variables do not support parallelism, Peter Larsson has a good example...
2010-03-04
558 reads
Blogs
Shifting Mindsets: Why FinOps is Essential for Cloud Efficiency
By HeyMo0sh
As a DevOps practitioner, I’ve always focused on performance, scalability, and automation. But as...
March 2026 SQL Server Security Updates
By Brian Kelley
On Patch Tuesday, in addition to OS and Office security patches, Microsoft also released...
How Fabric Mirroring Transformed with SQL Server 2025
When mirroring was first released for Azure SQL Database, it used Change Data Capture...
Forums
XACT_ABORT being set to ON by web services
We have two "identical" instances of an ASP.NET web service (or so I have...
OPENQUERY Flexibility
Comments posted to this topic are about the item OPENQUERY Flexibility
A Full Shutdown
Comments posted to this topic are about the item A Full Shutdown
Question of the Day
OPENQUERY Flexibility
Which of these are valid OPENQUERY() uses?
See possible answers