The New Office
A tour of the new Red Gate Software offices from Steve Jones, looking at how a modern software company has set up it's space.
2009-02-11
194 reads
Editorial
Trust
Trust is a big part of any DBA's job. But it seems that many people in society trust each other less and less all the time. Steve Jones has a few comments on this important subject.
2009-02-10
148 reads
Guest Editorial: Do You Run Antivirus Software on Your SQL Servers?
Every DBA needs to give serious consideration to the level of antivirus/antispyware protection they need on their SQL Server instances, and to the performance implications of the strategy they choose.
2009-02-09
637 reads
SQL Server Training: 2009 Conferences
Being a DBA demands that you keep up with the latest technology, and conferences are one of the best ways to do that. So, despite the fact that training budgets may be shrinking, I suggest you begin lobbying your manager to attend as many SQL Server events as you can. If you can't get your company to send you to a paid conference, then try to attend one of the free ones, on your own time.
2009-02-09
290 reads
Guest Editorial: In Praise of Templates
Phil takes us through one of the best kept secrets of SSMS - Templates. Even for a 'plain-screen' man like Phil, Templates are an excellent tool, and a major reason to use SSMS.
2009-02-06
277 reads
Guest Editorial: Do DBAs Need a Code of Ethics?
Despite the fact DBAs are essentially protectors of an organization’s knowledge, and privy to much confidential information, there is no clearly defined set of rules and standards to help govern and guide their ethical behavior. Brad McGehee thinks it's time for some action on this issue.
2009-02-05
440 reads
Guest editorial: Reasons to be Cheerful
The furore surrounding the recent release of MySQL 5.1 makes Tony Davis wonder if more than a few web 2.0 developers might be peering over the SQL Server Express fence and wondering if the grass doesn't look slightly greener over here.
2009-02-04
195 reads
Guest Editorial: Managing their expectations
In which Phil Factor's attention wanders whilst reading some software product announcements and imagines what would have happened if the current IT Bloggers had been in charge of the White Star Line at the time of RMS Titanic.
2009-02-03
131 reads
Guest Editorial: And Now; a Recitation
In which Phil Factor responds to the muse and writes a poem in the style of a School Song, in which he tries to give a mention to all the top writers and forum-posters.
2009-02-02
84 reads
The Oscars
As Steve Jones heads off for holiday, he asks a Friday poll question that should distract you from work for a few minutes.
2009-01-30
91 reads
Blogs
Presenting with Visual Studio Code
A while back I wrote a quick post on setting up key mappings in...
Advice I Like: In 100 Years
By Steve Jones
In 100 years a lot of what we take to be true now will...
dataMinds Saturday 2026 – Slides
At Saturday the 21st of February I’m presenting an introduction to dimensional modelling at...
Forums
AllocationType as ROW_OVERFLOW_DATA
Hello, I inherited a number of tables with like 20-30 column using nvarchar(256) in...
is it true we cant debug c# scripts in ssis anymore under vs
Hi, i'm running vs2022. I'm trying out a c# script that i'd like to...
Question of the Day
Missing the Jaro Winkler Distance
I upgraded a SQL Server 2019 instance to SQL Server 2025. I wanted to test the fuzzy string search functions. I run this code:
SELECT JARO_WINKLER_DISTANCE('tim', 'tom')
I get this error message:Msg 195, Level 15, State 10, Line 1 'JARO_WINKLER_DISTANCE' is not a recognized built-in function name.What is wrong? See possible answers