It’s spooky time again! I visited Salem, Massachusetts again this year, this time for a friend’s wedding. I ended up in the same spot next to the Charter Street Cemetery that I filmed at last year! I went through your top-voted questions from https://pollgab.com/room/brento.

Here’s what we covered:

• 00:00 Start
• 01:28 Dumped_on_DBA: How would you recommend storing data like zip codes that have spaces (like in Canada/UK), with or without the spaces? The issue happens when you want to search for a customer by zip code and the search input may or may not have a space and thus not match what’s stored in the DB.
• 02:40 DoesTimeReallyExists: Hi Brent! Should I use Cassandra or SQL Server for storing 500 million records daily? Each record contains 10 columns, with data types being datetime and numeric.
• 03:52 Frozt: What can you say about GMSA. I am using NTLogin again since they rollout cyberark and require us to change password every month which needs restart because other jobs are failing if you don’t restart the service. Do you have any opinions or gatcha on GMSA is it better than NTLogi
• 04:10 Otter 841: What was your opinion of Otter tune for PostgreSQL? Why do you think it failed while Constant Care succeeded?
• 05:43 KondzioSSJ4: Why MSSQL sometimes wants a index that have only changed order of fields in INCLUDE index creation? The index columns are the same. I have index like (X) INCLUDE (Y,Z) and query processor want to add (X) INCLUDE (Z, Y). What is the difference?
• 06:25 Tarzan Boy: What are your thoughts on the reserved instance trap for Azure SQL VM where your VM soon becomes antiquated but you are stuck with it due to reserved instance?
• 07:52 Az: Archiving needed for 10TB table with frequent updates, image column & 30M+ records. Seeking expert advice on optimized strategies for performance, storage efficiency & data consistency. Help with tools, technologies & step-by-step approach.”
• 10:20 Zoltan: What is your opinion of Idera SQL defrag manager for managing index fragmentation? Worth the money?
• 10:51 chandwich: Hey Brent! In the last Office Hours, you mentioned one skill many DBAs lack is their ability to communicate effectively. Have you considered offering a class on this specific topic? If not, are there any courses you recommend?
• 11:58 FutureBlogger: Hi Brent, I’m looking at starting a blog on databases and SQL Server to document my day to day learning. Do you have any tips or advice and what pitfalls should I try and avoid?
• 12:50 Hal: Do you foresee a day in the near future where certain ChatGPT requests for technical support will require a credit card?