I had that exact same problem when I was mentoring a new DBA. I was explaining transactions, how the transaction log worked and why the ACID properties were important. And...

Hi Steve,

1. The gradual subsumption of the analogue world into the digital world:
   I was listening to a podcast over the weekend and the presenters (qualified historians) bemoaned...

Of all of the keyboards that I have used, the ones that I found most agreeable to type on were the Apple Extended Keyboard II on the Macintoshes in university...

I tell people that I (well, we, the DBAs) look after the databases, the database servers, make reports and make manual changes from the tickets that end-users send us. We...

Obligatory rant from me:
Database development *is* easy. Developing databases well is not. You have to know what you're doing and this takes time. You have to apply yourself to...

There are sample exams available from third party companies (and I don't mean brain dumps). I found one via the Microsoft Certification website.

 The exam says to the world...

Hi fizzleme,

 Alas, we don't get to choose what goes on exams. These features are available in SQL Server and one is tested on them. I have never used...

Hi Gail,

 I ran this code (with thanks to P. Randal for an explanation as to what DBCC PAGE did [1]). The results from the DBCC PAGE are attached...

Hi Gail,
In answer to your question, neither 'read_committed_snapshot' nor 'allow_snapshot_isolation' are enabled. It is at 'Read Committed'.
I haven't gotten around to looking at Ben's queries yet.
Thanks very...