A data warehouse is built for questions, not transactions. Facts and dimensions in plain words, why the star schema reads the way people talk, what a date dimension is for, and when you do not need one.
What Lock Escalation Is and How to Stop It
Understand lock escalation, confirm it with evidence, and reduce its impact through smaller transactions, better access paths, and modern locking.
SQL SERVER – Use INSERT INTO … SELECT instead of Cursor
The story of my old cursor code that got laughed at in code review, and why a single INSERT INTO SELECT instead of cursor loops does the same job better.
SQL SERVER – Database Worst Practices
Let us talk about SQL SERVER – Database Worst Practices. Instead of writing best practices, I am going to write about few of the bad ones.
Incremental Loads: Moving Only What Changed
Design an incremental load with reliable boundaries, retained change information, delete handling, and a watermark that advances only after success.
CROSS JOIN: Duplicate Inputs Multiply the Result
CROSS JOIN multiplies row counts, including repeated labels. Keep source identifiers and grouped pair counts visible while checking result grain.
SSAS Cube Performance: Diagnosing a Sudden Slowdown
SSAS cube performance diagnosis starts with the exact slow request. Follow storage, MDX calculations, cache, processing, and resource evidence before choosing a fix.