A transaction in SQL Server is a group of changes that all happen or none do. A rollback that undid 16,440 rows, what ACID means in four short words, and the open transaction that quietly fills a drive.
GREATEST, LEAST and Other Small Helpers
GREATEST, LEAST, and recent T-SQL helpers replace bulky CASE patterns while preserving explicit rules for NULL and data types.
Rebuilding One Partition Online Instead of the Whole Index
A big partitioned table does not need a full index rebuild every night. Here is how to rebuild one partition safely.
Enforcing Object Naming Rules With a DDL Trigger
Enforce procedure and index names with a DDL trigger, inspect EVENTDATA, audit rejected attempts, and list existing violations.
The Last Actual Execution Plan: LAST_QUERY_PLAN_STATS in Practice
Capture the last actual execution plan with LAST_QUERY_PLAN_STATS, inspect runtime rows, and understand what cache retention cannot provide.
Connecting to SQL Server From Home Without Exposing Port 1433
Keep port 1433 off the public internet by checking external reachability and using VPN, a jump host, Bastion, and trusted encryption.
TABLESAMPLE Samples Pages, Not Rows: Sampling a Large Table Right
Compare TABLESAMPLE page sampling with NEWID sorting and CHECKSUM filters by row count, reads, spread, and repeatability.