Walk into any company, open the production database, and you will find the same seven tables. Nobody planned it, and I have personally created four of them.
Personal Technology – Laptop Screen Blank – No Post – No BIOS – No Boot
A blank laptop screen interrupted a database emergency in 2013. Here is the family story and the power reset that worked on our old removable-battery laptop.
Stop Blaming the User: Let Constraints Catch Bad Data
Blaming the user is the oldest joke in IT. Here’s why it fails, and how NOT NULL, CHECK, UNIQUE and foreign keys stop bad data before it lands.
SQL Error Riddles: Parent Keys Not Found and Other Classics
SQL error riddles have been passed around for years. Here are the classics, told kindly, with the real SQL Server error behind each punchline.
SQL Server Cheat Sheet
This is a post about a SQL Server cheat sheet, but not yet. First comes the history of the cheat sheet, from the first cave wall to the recipe card that cheats you, and the five laws every cheat sheet obeys. Then the new 2025 edition.
SQLAuthority News – Fun Quotes about Technology
SQL Server can be a boring subject at times, so here are some fun quotes about technology from Thomas Edison, Douglas Adams and others to lighten the day.
Slow Query Cartoon: Filtered Indexes and Functions, Tested
This slow query cartoon from Community TechDays in Ahmedabad answers a slow query with questions, not an automatic index. The tests here measure a full index against a filtered index, show why a function on a column forces a scan, and show a parameter case where the filtered index is skipped.