Microsoft's SQL Server toolbox is a morass of acronyms, from SMO to SSMS to SOS, and differentiating one from the other can be a challenge. I recently caught up with Vicky Harp, lead program manager ...

Unlock the full InfoQ experience by logging in! Stay updated with your favorite authors and topics, engage with content, and download exclusive resources. Dany Lepage discusses the architectural ...

If your business uses relational databases to store data, it helps to use the SQL SELECT command with the INTO clause to create new tables from query results. This method isn't ANSI-standard SQL, but ...

In this second delve into data cleanliness (read the first, How clean is your data?, here), we’ll test-drive the data profiling tool provided with Microsoft SQL Server. Other profiling tools have ...

In this episode of eSpeaks, Jennifer Margles, Director of Product Management at BMC Software, discusses the transition from traditional job scheduling to the era of the autonomous enterprise. eSpeaks’ ...

As I discussed in an earlier column, SQL Server keeps a plan cached for each query it sees (assuming the query requires planning in the first place, of course). That's great for speeding up processing ...

One of the most common problems when running SQL Servers is slow queries. The help desk or database team usually hears that described as the application is slow or ...

SQL Server performance is slow. Users are complaining. Your boss wants to know what's going on and what you can do to improve SQL Server performance. Where do you start? Which SQL Server query should ...