I gave 40 candidates this puzzle: get the top N records per group from a student marks table. Here is the simple answer using a Ranking Function.
SQL SERVER – What Does SET NOEXEC Do?
What does SET NOEXEC do? With SET NOEXEC ON, SQL Server compiles your query but does not run it. Here is how the compile and execute phases work.
The sp_ Prefix: Finding Stored Procedures Named the Risky Way
Find user procedures with the sp_ prefix across databases, understand the lookup risk, and move callers through a synonym safely.
SQL SERVER – 2017 – How to Remove Leading and Trailing Spaces with TRIM Function?
TRIM finally arrived in SQL Server 2017. Here is how to remove leading and trailing spaces with the new TRIM function, in a few simple words.
Log Space Usage DMV: Check Transaction Log Space in T-SQL
The Log Space Usage DMV, sys.dm_db_log_space_usage, returns one row that shows how big the transaction log is, how full it is, and how much log has built up since the last log backup. This post builds a demo, reads each column, and uses the value to decide when a log backup is worth taking. It also covers open transactions and the simple recovery model.
SQL SERVER – Puzzle – Solution – Why Does UNION ALL Work but UNION Produces Error?
Here is the answer to my puzzle: why does UNION ALL work but UNION produces an error with a TEXT column? It comes down to how UNION removes duplicates.
How to List All the Nonclustered Indexes of Your Table? – Interview Question of the Week #155
How do you list all the clustered and nonclustered indexes of your table, including columnstore? Here is the script I use in my performance health checks.