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Mar30

SQL SERVER – Index Seek Vs. Index Scan (Table Scan)

Pinal Dave
SQL Performance
SQL Index, SQL Joins, SQL Scripts, SQL Server
107 Comments

Index Scan retrieves all the rows from the table. Index Seek retrieves selective rows from the table.

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Mar29

SQL SERVER – Difference between DISTINCT and GROUP BY – Distinct vs Group By

Pinal Dave
SQL Performance
SQL Function, SQL Joins, SQL Scripts
97 Comments

What is the difference between DISTINCT and GROUP BY? They usually produce the same plan. Use GROUP BY for aggregates and DISTINCT to remove duplicates.

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Mar28

SQL SERVER – Fix : Error 8101 An explicit value for the identity column in table can only be specified when a column list is used and IDENTITY_INSERT is ON

Pinal Dave
SQL Tips and Tricks
SQL Download, SQL Error Messages, SQL Scripts, SQL Server, SQL Server Security
60 Comments

Error 8101 means you gave a value for an identity column. What IDENTITY_INSERT does, why there are two different errors, and why TRY CATCH misses it.

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Mar27

SQL SERVER – Fix : Error 701 There is insufficient system memory to run this query

Pinal Dave
SQL Performance
SQL Download, SQL Error Messages, SQL Scripts, SQL Server DBCC, SQL Server Security, SQL Stored Procedure
24 Comments

For Error 701, insufficient system memory, compare max server memory with min server memory, check the paging file size, and free caches with DBCC commands.

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Mar25

SQL SERVER – @@IDENTITY vs SCOPE_IDENTITY() vs IDENT_CURRENT – Retrieve Last Inserted Identity of Record

Pinal Dave
SQL Performance
SQL Function, SQL Index, SQL Scripts
230 Comments

@@IDENTITY vs SCOPE_IDENTITY() vs IDENT_CURRENT: how each one returns the last identity value, and why a trigger can make @@IDENTITY give the wrong one.

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Mar23

SQL SERVER – Stored Procedure – Clean Cache and Clean Buffer

Pinal Dave
SQL Performance
SQL Scripts, SQL Server, SQL Server DBCC, SQL Server Security, SQL Stored Procedure, SQL Utility
24 Comments

Clean Cache commands affect different parts of SQL Server memory. I separate buffer-pool testing from execution-plan testing.

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Mar22

SQL SERVER – Fix: Error Msg 128 The name is not permitted in this context. Only constants, expressions, or variables allowed here. Column names are not permitted.

Pinal Dave
SQL Performance
SQL Download, SQL Error Messages, SQL Scripts, SQL Server Security
12 Comments

Msg 128, The name is not permitted in this context, shows up when one column is used as the DEFAULT of another. Use only constants, expressions or variables.

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Pinal Dave is an SQL Server Performance Tuning Expert and independent consultant with over 24 years of hands-on experience. He holds a Masters of Science degree and numerous database certifications.

Pinal has authored 19 books and 125 Pluralsight courses. To freely share his knowledge and help others build their expertise, Pinal has also written more than 5,800 database tech articles on his blog at https://blog.sqlauthority.com.

Pinal is also a CrossFit Level 1 Trainer (CF-L1) and CrossFit Level 2 Trainer (CF-L2).


Nupur Dave is a social media enthusiast and an independent consultant. She primarily focuses on the database domain, helping clients build short and long-term multi-channel campaigns to drive leads for their sales pipeline.


Shaivi Pinalkumar Dave is a book author and a women’s artistic gymnast.

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