Which RAID do I use for my SQL Servers? RAID 10. It gives great read and write performance, while RAID 5 pays a write penalty for parity.
SQL SERVER – 64 bit Architecture and White Paper
A Microsoft white paper on the 64 bit architecture of SQL Server 2005: more addressable memory, better parallelism and the key differences from 32-bit.
SQL SERVER – CASE Statement/Expression Examples and Explanation
The CASE Statement/Expression works anywhere an expression can, from the SELECT list to WHERE and HAVING. Here are its two basic forms with examples.
SQL SERVER – Stored Procedures Advantages and Best Advantage
My take on stored procedures advantages, and the best one of all: execution plan retention and reuse, since the rest can be had without them.
SQL SERVER – 2005 – Explanation of TRY…CATCH and ERROR Handling
SQL Server 2005 brings TRY…CATCH for error handling, so you no longer check @@ERROR after every statement. Here is how the TRY and CATCH blocks work.
SQL SERVER – SP Performance Improvement without changing T-SQL
Two easy ways to improve SP performance without changing T-SQL: do not prefix stored procedures with sp_, and call them by the fully qualified dbo name.
SQL SERVER – Search Text Field – CHARINDEX vs PATINDEX
CHARINDEX and PATINDEX both return the start position of a pattern in a text field. PATINDEX allows wildcards, CHARINDEX does not. Examples use AdventureWorks.