SQL Server

We’ve all had this problem before – the production server is significantly more powerful than the development server. You tune a query and you’re pretty sure you’ve made it faster, but there’s that doubt in the back of your mind. There are so many things that can change performance – memory, CPU count, disk performance…

REDMOND, WA – Microsoft announced today that SQL Server vNext’s editions will be named by their new marketing partner, Taco Bell. “We’re excited that SQL Server Supreme Edition is now our top-of-the-line product, replacing Enterprise Edition. When you hunger for warm, satisfying In-Memory OLTP wrapped in the power of unlimited memory, only SQL Server Supreme Edition…

Can I upgrade an existing instance without migrating? Keep your columns and rows inside the database while you prepare for your upgrade. This is nothing against SQL Server 2014, but I can’t stand in-place upgrades. Over the years I’ve had in-place upgrades work flawlessly on a few instances, and then had an install issue cause…

First, decide what you want to get really good at. Then try to break it in many possible ways and analyze why it broke. I think it’s going to explode The more you break something, the more you’ll understand it. I use this technique all the time. Last year, I encountered a problem with a lack of…

Kendra here– we’re really excited to announce that we’ve hired Erik Darling on to join our team as a consultant. Erik’s first day is today. To introduce Erik, we’re sharing some of his answers to our call for job applications. We were so impressed, we knew we had to talk to him right away. What are…

Local variables don’t behave like true parameters in stored procedures in SQL Server. Join Kendra to explore why local variables are so tricky in this free 10 minute video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNUArv_DXn4

Commuting to work. Sometimes we pile just a few too many duties onto our servers. They start to become a clown car – the classic joke where dozens of clowns come pouring out of an impossibly small car. (The physics behind it are actually really interesting.) So how can you tell if your SQL Server…

Take my three question survey… Brent Says: SQL Server Developer Edition licensing is crazy cheap, and it has no per-core licensing fees. I like taking the oldest server I have with a huge number of cores, something that doesn’t make licensing sense for any other purpose, and throwing Developer Edition on there.

Common table expressions are a feature of SQL that lets a developer create a query that can be referenced multiple times. This feature gives developers another tool to add flexibility or just to simplify code. Why Common Table Expression? Why is it called a Common Table Expression (CTE)? Because that’s what the documentation calls it!…

For the past two years, Red Gate’s Tribal Awards have let you, the SQL Server community, nominate and vote on their favorite community voices. Here’s the 2014 winners: Best New Community Voice: Cathrine Wilhelmsen (@CathrineW) Best Presentation at a Technical Conference: Dr. Rimma Nehme (@RimmaNehme) Best New SQL Book: SQL Server Query Performance Tuning by Grant Fritchey…