This month's discount Comprehensive Database Performance Health Check · Testimonials
SQLAuthority with Pinal Dave
Home
  • Consulting
    • Health Check
  • Free Videos
  • All Articles
    • AI
    • SQL Performance
    • SQL Tips and Tricks
    • Interview Questions and Answers
    • SQL Puzzle
    • SQL Video
    • SQLAuthority News
    • Personal
  • Books
  • Consulting
An empty warehouse receiving dock at dawn with a new conveyor running to an open door, and a hand-lettered cardboard sign taped to the frame reading MONDAYS: WAIT TILL 9

AI Generated ETL Worked on Day One. Then Came Monday.

September 25, 2026
Pinal Dave
AI
AI, Data Observability, Data Warehousing, ETL

AI generated ETL ran clean on the first try, and it took six weeks to find out what it was missing. A late Monday file, a file sent twice, a file full of zeros and mangled names all got through. The ugly old job had a rule for every one of them, and nobody had written those rules down. Now I ask AI for the failure list before I ask for any code.

Read More
SQL SERVER - Stretch Database - Free Trial Subscriptions Can Provision Basic, Standard S0 through S3 Databases, up to 100 eDTU Basic or Standard Elastic Pools and DW100 Through DW400 Data Warehouses

SQL SERVER – Stretch Database – Free Trial Subscriptions Can Provision Basic, Standard S0 through S3 Databases, up to 100 eDTU Basic or Standard Elastic Pools and DW100 Through DW400 Data Warehouses

March 21, 2019
Pinal Dave
SQL Tips and Tricks
Data Warehousing, SQL Azure, SQL Error Messages, SQL Scripts, SQL Server

Stretch Database failed again for a reader. The log said Free Trial subscriptions can provision only Basic and Standard S0 through S3 databases.

Read More
A goods train on one track with its oldest wagon uncoupled and rolling onto a side track

Table Partitioning Is Not Sharding: What Partitioning Really Gives You

May 7, 2013
Pinal Dave
SQL Tips and Tricks
Data Warehousing, SQL Performance, SQL Server, Table Partitioning

See why partitioning is not sharding, build monthly partitions, inspect elimination, and switch a month out for simpler data management.

Read More
A duvet shrinking flat inside a vacuum storage bag

Reducing the Size of a Reporting Database

April 28, 2013
Pinal Dave
SQL Tips and Tricks
Compression, Data Warehousing, DBA, Shrinking Database, SQL Data Storage

Reducing the size of a reporting database starts with compression, archiving, and index review; shrinking files comes last.

Read More
A wooden cartwheel hub lying flat on a workshop bench with five spokes radiating out from it.

What Is a Star Schema?

March 3, 2013
Pinal Dave
SQL Tips and Tricks
Business Intelligence, Data Warehousing, Database, SQL Server

A star schema is one fact table surrounded by dimension tables. What facts and dimensions hold, why grain is the decision you cannot undo, why the data repeats on purpose, and a worked example in AdventureWorksDW.

Read More
A stone sundial in a walled garden at midday with a crisp shadow, a trowel and a basket of cut flowers on its plinth.

Designing a Date Dimension

January 20, 2013
Pinal Dave
SQL Tips and Tricks
Business Intelligence, Data Warehousing, SQL DateTime, SQL Server

A date dimension makes reporting calendars explicit with fiscal periods, holidays, weekdays, and a repeatable SQL Server build script.

Read More
SQL SERVER - Step by Step Guide to Beginning Data Quality Services in SQL Server 2012 - Introduction to DQS

SQL SERVER – Step by Step Guide to Beginning Data Quality Services in SQL Server 2012 – Introduction to DQS

September 4, 2012
Pinal Dave
SQL Tips and Tricks
Business Intelligence, Data Quality Services, Data Warehousing, SQL Server

A step by step introduction to Data Quality Services in SQL Server 2012 for beginners: build a Knowledge Base from an Excel file and use it to spot bad data.

Read More
1 2 3 4 … 10 Next
  • Books
  • Testimonials
  • Privacy Policy

© 2006 – 2026 All rights reserved. pinal @ SQLAuthority.com