Large PRs are Bad
Reviewing Pull Requests (PR) is something that developers should take seriously, but Steve doesn't think this always happens.
The Hidden Impact of Microsoft Defender for Azure SQL
A problem with the configuration of Microsoft Defender caused all activity on the server to get delayed.
Best Practices for Google Cloud Security
Security is a concern whether it be on-premises or cloud-native. Google Cloud offers many products and services including SQL Server. What are some of the security controls that should be considered when using Google Cloud services?
How to Make Database Changes Without Breaking Everything
You’ve got an existing application with a database back end. You’re thinking about changing the database, and you don’t wanna break stuff.
The Minimum Upgrade Point
Today Steve wonders to which version you would upgrade your SQL Server instances. There should be a minimum version you would try to reach.
What is OneLake in Microsoft Fabric?
Get ready to be blown away! The highly anticipated Microsoft Build in May 2023 has finally unveiled its latest and greatest creation: the incredible Microsoft Fabric - an unparalleled Data Intelligence platform that is guaranteed to revolutionize the tech world! fig 1: OneLake for all Data One of the most exciting things in Fabric I […]
GENERATE_SERIES: My new go-to to build sets
I have come across a lot of use cases for manufacturing rows on the fly, aside from the common goal of populating a large data set such as a numbers or calendar table. A few favorites include building sample data, pivoting an unknown number of columns, data extrapolation, and filling gaps in date or time ranges.
PASS Data Community Summit 2023
Keynote speakers for Summit 2023 have been announced! Who will you go see on the main stage? If you’re not already on the mailing list, sign up now and be the first to know all Summit 2023 updates.
A Overview of Amazon Redshift
This article gives an overview of Amazon Redshift, the cloud data warehouse in AWS.
Achieving More Autonomy At Work
Most of us want more autonomy at work, but it isn't given out without effort. Today Andy Warren has a few thoughts on how to get more freedom from your boss.
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