Stop building ORDER BY strings and running them with EXEC in a stored procedure. I show how a CASE statement in ORDER BY sorts by a variable without dynamic SQL.
SQL SERVER – Microsoft White Papers – Analysis Services Query Best Practices – Partial Database Availability
My summary of two Microsoft white papers: the top 10 best practices for Analysis Services query performance, and Partial Database Availability with filegroups.
SQL SERVER – SQL Joke, SQL Humor, SQL Laugh – 15 Signs to Identify Bad DBA
A bit of SQL humor: 15 signs of a bad DBA, from reinstalling SQL Server when the sa password is lost to indexing every field to make it faster.
SQL SERVER – 2005 Collation Explanation and Translation – Part 2
Collation Explanation and Translation, part 2: one query on sys.fn_helpcollations() lists all 1011 collations in SQL Server 2005 with a description of each.
SQL SERVER – 2005 – Use ALTER DATABASE MODIFY NAME Instead of sp_renameDB to rename
sp_renameDB will be deprecated, so use ALTER DATABASE MODIFY NAME to rename a database in SQL Server 2005. A short script shows the new syntax.
SQL SERVER – Validate Field For DATE datatype using function ISDATE()
A CSV import crashed on the date 30/2/2007. Use the ISDATE() function to validate a VARCHAR column in a staging table before moving rows to a DATETIME field.
SQLAuthority News – SQL Blog SQLAuthority.com Comment by Mr. Ben Forta
Ben Forta, author of Sams Teach Yourself SQL Server T-SQL in 10 Minutes, wrote about SQLAuthority.com on his blog. Here is what he said and why it means a lot to me.
SQL SERVER – 2005 – Features Comparison Chart
What are the differences between SQL Server 2005 editions? I point you to the Microsoft features comparison chart for Express, Workgroup, Standard and Enterprise.
Keeping an Inventory of Every SQL Server You Own
Build an Inventory of Every SQL Server you own, including hidden instances, owners, versions, recovery details, and a process to keep it current.
SQL SERVER – Count Duplicate Records – Rows
A simple query to count duplicate records in a table using GROUP BY, HAVING COUNT(*) and ORDER BY, with the most repeated values first. A video is included.