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,…
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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…
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