Secure PostgreSQL in Docker: SSL, Certificates & Config Best Practices
The post Secure PostgreSQL in Docker: SSL, Certificates & Config Best Practices appeared first on SQLServerCentral.
Distributed Availability Group Health: T-SQL and Zabbix
After creating a distributed availability group using the steps described in my article, SQL Server 2022 Clusterless Distributed Availability Group, how can we verify if the synchronization between data centers is healthy? In SQL Server Management Stud …
Updated First Responder Kit and Consultant Toolkit for October 2025
This quarter’s release includes new checks for SQL Server 2025’s new memory pressure warnings, Azure SQL DB’s operations in progress, warnings about not using partitioned statistics where appropriate, plus bug fixes. Wanna watch me use it? Take the fre …
Use SQL to Find a String in Database Tables, Stored Procedures, and User Defined Functions
The post Use SQL to Find a String in Database Tables, Stored Procedures, and User Defined Functions appeared first on SQLServerCentral.
Query Plans Pop Quiz: Three Simple Questions
Question 1: Pick the Problematic Plan: someone hands you a pair of queries, and you get the estimated query plans. (Perhaps you get the estimated plans from SSMS, or from sp_BlitzCache, or from your monitoring tool.) Which one of these two should you f …
Free Fundamentals Classes Are Coming Next Week! Register Now.
You’re a developer, analyst, database administrator, or anybody else working with SQL Server, Azure SQL DB, or Amazon RDS SQL Server. You want to learn how to make your databases go faster. Good news! Next week, I’m teaching totally free half-day versi …
Find Invalid Objects in SQL Server
One of the most important responsibilities of any database administrator is to maintain the integrity of the database, schema, and data stored in the underlying tables of any database. This article will teach us how to identify invalid or broken object …
Natural Language Query for SQL Server
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Oracle Performance Tuning: Practical Techniques Every DBA Should Master
As database professionals, we’ve all been there – that dreaded moment when users start complaining about slow queries, and suddenly everyone’s looking at you with that « fix it now » expression. Oracle performance tuning can feel overwhelming, especially …
Who’s Hiring Microsoft Data People? October 2025 Edition
Is your company hiring for a database position as of October 2025? Do you wanna work with the kinds of people who read this blog? Let’s make a love connection. I think YOU should apply. If your company is hiring, leave a comment. The rules: Your commen …
Which Should You Use: VARCHAR or NVARCHAR?
You’re building a new table or adding a column, and you wanna know which datatype to use: VARCHAR or NVARCHAR? If you need to store Unicode data, the choice is made for you: NVARCHAR says it’s gonna be me. But if you’re not sure, maybe you think, “I sh …
Unlocking High-Concurrency Inserts in SQL Server with OPTIMIZE_FOR_SEQUENTIAL_KEY
Introduction High-concurrency systems always look impressive on paper. You throw in dozens of CPU cores, crank up memory, design a schema with lightweight inserts, and proudly tell yourself, “This thing is going to fly.” And to be fair, under low load …
Unlocking the Power of FULL OUTER JOIN in SQL: Performance, Use Cases & Examples
The post Unlocking the Power of FULL OUTER JOIN in SQL: Performance, Use Cases & Examples appeared first on SQLServerCentral.
Set MAXDOP in Azure SQL DB or You’ll Get This Cryptic Error.
Max Degrees of Parallelism (MAXDOP) tells the database engine, “If you decide to parallelize a query, go parallel with this many worker threads.” (It’s a little more complex than that – there is also a coordinating thread, plus a single plan might have …
Memories of Andrew Clarke, by Simon Galbraith
Simon Galbraith is the co-founder of Redgate and one of the creators of Simple Talk. Here, he pays tribute to Andrew Clarke. You can also read Tony Davis’ memories of Andrew here. His eyes have been darting towards the door sporadically since I bumped …