Updated June, 2016 Ever jump on a machine to connect to a SQL Server and find out... whoops! No tools. For some reason, the client machine doesn't have SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) installed. Now I'm not talking about not having the SSMS installed on the server, but on the local workstation that you need … Continue reading Get Just The Tools: SSMS Download
Ever need to group dates and round them to intervals? I had this exact need for a report on wait stats I was working on for an upcoming post. I wanted the flexibility to be able to group a list of dates by either minute, hour, date, etc. And then also round those dates within … Continue reading Grouping and Rounding Dates
Michael Swart (Database Whisperer) posted a great write up and interview with Brad Schulz that is worth checking out. Michael’s post links to a post from Brad on the use of EXIST and what is required for the SELECT portion of the statement. Hope you are still with me. Definitely worth the read and +1 … Continue reading Checking EXISTS – What’s Your Practice?
In less than a month SSWUG will be hosting the Ultimate Virtual Conference on October 21-24. This is an excellent opportunity to get the benefits of heading to a conference full of Rock Star speakers while be able to view the content from the comforts of home or your desk. Reasons to Attend Some of … Continue reading Check out the Ultimate Virtual Conference from SSWUG
Well… until next month of course. If you’re in Minnesota and reading this… and don’t mind sharing some snacks with other like minded SQL professional… then come down and join us for this month’s SQL Server user group meeting. We’ll be in a different location for this month – across the skyway from the normal … Continue reading This Week Only PASSMN Meeting (August 18)
About a year ago I was working on a project that required that data be extracted from one database and inserted into an database. Not the most earth shattering concept. This is done quite often and doesn’t necessarily require a discussion of foreign keys. So why talk about them… well… in this case the source … Continue reading Gotta Stop Violating Foreign Keys
I really like a great idea. They have this way of going from a great idea to success. When you hear a great idea it is always a good idea to share the idea – and let it spread like a virus. Today, while I was going through and reading posts from Microsoft’s SQL Server … Continue reading Volunteering and Resume Building
A while back, I saw the following tweet mentioning that you can’t script out data from SQL Server tables. https://twitter.com/cliff_77/statuses/2521180719 It turns out, though, that you can do this. And as long as you are using SQL Server Management Studio 2008 or higher, you have access to the tools necessary. To demonstrate, I’ll walk through the steps … Continue reading Using SSMS to Script Out Data
Everyone likes taking some time to relax. You’re sitting out in the sunshine or on a beach and the waitress is bringing you your favorite beverage. The company and conversation is great and it seems like the perfect day. And then… suddenly without warning… your drink is gone. You were having a great time and … Continue reading What Happened to My Fabulous Beverage!
Yesterday I talked about installing the Best Practices Analyzer 2005 (BPA) for a client that I was working with. After some initial installation issues, I was ready to check out their SQL Server environment. While the tool was running, I started checking out the SQL Server event logs to see if there was anything interesting … Continue reading Are You Down With The BPA?
Strate SQL 