T-SQL Tuesday #181 The Data Platform Present

This month, Kevin Chant has a really fun writing challenge for us. Not only is it a very inspiring call to write about SQL Server (my choice), but it's also a crossover between T-SQL Tuesday and the Festive Tech Calendar. It's like opening a digital present! Kevin created a very nice image that shows the … Continue reading T-SQL Tuesday #181 The Data Platform Present

SQL Server Management Studio 21: First Impressions & Features

It's been a long time coming, but all of a sudden there were a number of posts from Microsoft announcing the first preview of SQL Server Management Studio 21. This is big as it's quite the overhaul from the SQL Server Management Studio we're used to. To give you some idea, here are my first … Continue reading SQL Server Management Studio 21: First Impressions & Features

Sql Server and Copilot. What the query it this? Part 3, query editor

Welcome back to this mini series on Azure Sql Server with Copilot. In the previous posts I wrote about a general introduction of this toolset (click here for more) and had some fun in the Azure Portal getting stuff done (click here for more). In this third part, I'm going in for the data and … Continue reading Sql Server and Copilot. What the query it this? Part 3, query editor

Sql Server and Copilot. What the query it this? Part 1, introduction

Welcome to a series of three blogs where I'm going to explore Azure Sql Copilot. This series will portray a lot of my experiences trying out Azure Sql Copilot. The first blog will feature a short introduction and an introduction on Copilot security. The following blogs will focus on a lot of testing. Remember, AI … Continue reading Sql Server and Copilot. What the query it this? Part 1, introduction

Testing Microsoft Fabric Capacity: Data Warehouse vs Lakehouse Performance

I just can't seem to stop doing this, checking the limits of Microsoft Fabric. In this instalment I'll try and find some limits on the data warehouse experience and compare them with the Lakehouse experience. The data warehouse is a bit different compared to the Lakehouse, so I'll be digging into that one first. Then … Continue reading Testing Microsoft Fabric Capacity: Data Warehouse vs Lakehouse Performance

Mind your collation!

Blog alert! My colleague recently came to me with a fun challenge: why is their SQL Server Hashbytes conversion not working as expected? After some digging, I discovered significant differences between text data types when converting them. Check out my latest blog post to learn more about this interesting topic. #SQL #datahashing #techtalk #SqlServer #Microsoft

Why won’t you go parallel, part 2

In my previous blogpost (Click here to read) I wrote about a query that just wouldn't go parallel. This sparked some discussion and interest from a few people who were very kind and helpful with their suggestions and even deep dives into the query plans, execution statistics etc. To make one thing very clear, this … Continue reading Why won’t you go parallel, part 2

Why won’t you go parallel, a curious case of a stubborn query.

With an unsatisfying end. Intro So what's up this time. Our client has moved to Azure in classic lift and shift scenario. Well, almost. They've deployed new VM's and installed SQL Server 2019 Standard in nice DTAP setting. The VM's are standard E16-4as-v4 SKU. 4 vcpus and 128 GB memory. The disks are Premium SSD … Continue reading Why won’t you go parallel, a curious case of a stubborn query.

Microsoft Fabric: shortcuts and table clones

A few days ago, I heard the term table clone for the first time, it's preview release date was to be confirmed and I had no idea what it was about. Two days later, a video emerged where the table clone was explained on a high level. At that point, I started to wonder what … Continue reading Microsoft Fabric: shortcuts and table clones

View with a where clause

I was teaching a class and during an interesting discussing an attendee told me that views with a filter took a long time to produce results, even if the result set itself was quite small. I wanted to test this out for myself to see what was happening. I'll take you along this short journey … Continue reading View with a where clause