A DMV version of sp_who2 returns the same session details from documented views and leaves out the system tasks. This post builds the query, shows why the old spid above 50 filter fails, and stores the result in a temporary table.
Finding Old Agent Jobs Not Run in Months or Never Scheduled
Review agent jobs not run recently or lacking schedules, combine history and activity, and disable approved candidates for review.
Unquoted Procedure Parameters: Are Single Quotes Optional?
Unquoted procedure parameters work in SQL Server when the value is one plain word. This post builds a small procedure and tests which values fail without single quotes. It also shows how NULL, DEFAULT and numbers change the value.
Convert Integer to Date in SQL Server: ddMMyyyy Values
To convert integer to date values such as 09122020, split the number into day, month and year and build the date from the parts. This post compares four methods on tested data, shows why a lost leading zero and the session language break two of them, and times them on a million rows.
Slowest Cached Queries in SQL Server: Time, Reads and Plan
To find the slowest cached queries in SQL Server, rank each statement by its average elapsed time and keep its plan beside it. This post builds a small workload, reads sys.dm_exec_query_stats with the plan, and shows why a database filter on the sql text hides every ad hoc query.
sp_updatestats and Disabled Indexes: What Gets Updated
sp_updatestats and disabled indexes: the procedure updates statistics on disabled nonclustered indexes and skips a table whose clustered index is disabled. This post proves both, times the cost of disabled indexes against dropped ones on a million rows, and generates a targeted update that skips them.
Top N Plus Others: Grouping the Rest Into One Row
Create top N plus others summaries with deterministic category ranking, one remainder total, stable labels, and explicit display ordering.