As a consultant whose job description includes putting out performance fires, I get to see a lot of problematic queries that can dramatically harm overall server performance and throughput. Wondering ...

There’s a very handy new tool from Microsoft called the Database Experimentation Assistant (DEA). The DEA makes it very easy to conduct A/B testing for SQL Server upgrades, providing quantitative ...

There used to be few good options for a DBA with a bunch of systems stuck on SQL Server 2008. But thanks to one easy trick, businesses on aging infrastructure can take advantage of Microsoft's modern ...

PolyBase, a data virtualization feature for SQL Server, allows users to seamlessly query data from various external sources directly using T-SQL (Transact-SQL) without the need for separate client ...

Pairing your on-prem SQL Server with a cloud-based instance for high availability has its challenges, but they can be overcome. Here’s how. The geographic distribution of cloud data centers makes it ...

JSON has stolen some of XML's thunder with features such as human and machine readability, a lightweight, compact text structure and support for many software and hardware platforms. JSON (JavaScript ...