Interview Question of the Week #020 – What is the Difference Between DISTINCT and GROUP BY?

Question: What is the Difference Between DISTINCT and GROUP BY? Answer: A DISTINCT and GROUP BY usually generate the same query plan, so performance should be the same across both query constructs. GROUP BY should be used to apply aggregate operators to each group. If all you need is to remove duplicates,…
Read More

SQL SERVER – Service Pack Error – The User Data directory in the registry is not valid. Verify DefaultData key under the instance hive points to a valid directory

As a good SQL Server DBA, I always keep updating my SQL Server on my all VMs with the latest service pack available. During my last installation of service pack 2 on SQL Server 2012, I got below error. The User Data directory in the registry is not valid. Verify…
Read More

SQL SERVER – SSIS and How to Load Binary Large Objects, or Blobs – Notes from the Field #080

[Note from Pinal]: This is an 80th episode of Notes from the Field series. Every time I give an introductory note, however, this time there is no need of intro note. This note is from Andy and as we all know he is amazing person when we have to understand the fundamentals. He has written this blog post with such an interesting way that you must read it to understand the very basic fundamental of SSIS. Let’s learn SSIS and How to Load Binary Large Objects, or Blobs.

Read More