How do you get random records from a table? This interview question never gets old. Here is the ORDER BY method I use because its syntax is easy to remember.
SQL Server emergency? Email pinal@sqlauthority.com with URGENT in the subject line.
SQL SERVER – Unable to Start SQL Service – Server TCP provider failed to listen on [‘any’ 1433]. Tcp port is already in use.
One of my SQL instances would not start: Server TCP provider failed to listen on port 1433, TCP port is already in use. How I found what held the port.
SQL SERVER – Database Mirroring Login Attempt Failed with Error ‘Connection Handshake Failed’
A friend using certificates on workgroup machines hit a database mirroring error: Connection Handshake Failed. Here is how I tracked it down in the ERRORLOG.
SQL SERVER – SSMS – Script Out Multiple Objects
Do you script objects one at a time in SSMS out of habit? There is a quicker way to script out multiple objects in one go, and here is how.
SQL SERVER – Installation Error – [Microsoft][ODBC Driver Manager] Data source name not found and no default driver specified
Patching SQL Server 2005 on a cluster failed with ‘Data source name not found and no default driver specified’. What caused it for a reader and the fix.
SQL SERVER – Fix Error Msg 13603 working with JSON documents
Msg 13603 appeared when I used a custom path with FOR JSON PATH, because the column alias had an invalid character. Here is how to fix it.
Nullable Foreign Keys: Optional Relationships and Outer Joins
A nullable foreign key lets a row say no relationship yet. I show what the constraint checks, why an inner join drops those rows, and where WHERE bites.
SQL Server slow? Let's fix it together in about four hours.
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