SQL Server Central

SQLServerCentral stands out as the leading educational and community platform dedicated to SQL Server enthusiasts. Currently, it boasts 819,000 members and receives an impressive 2.5 million pageviews each month, with rapid growth continuing. This site serves as a key resource for the SQL Server community, enabling members to connect with one another and find precise, relevant, and timely technical information essential for their work. SQLServerCentral prioritizes education for SQL Server users by offering a collaborative space where they can learn and share insights. The content on the site is crafted by our expert columnists, who draw from their real-world experiences and challenges encountered while working with SQL Server throughout their careers.

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A New Word: Lookaback – SQLServerCentral

1 week ago | sqlservercentral.com | Steve Jones

lookaback– n. the chock of meeting back up with someone and learning that your mental image of them had fallen wildly out of date – having grown up or gotten old, fallen apart, or pulled themselves together – which shakes your faith in the accuracy of the social puppet show that runs continuously inside your head. Most of the time I’ve run into someone after time away, they are similar to what I expect.
Create a Linked Server: #SQLNewBlogger – SQLServerCentral

2 weeks ago | sqlservercentral.com | Steve Jones

I had a customer recently that was asking about Linked Servers and some development advice. I was going to show them a few things and realized I hadn’t created a linked server in my demo environment, so I did it and decided to create a quick post on this. Another post for me that is simple and hopefully serves as an example for people trying to get blogging as #SQLNewBloggers. The ScenarioI have a few demo instances of SQL Server in my local environment: Aristotle and AristotleSQL2022.
Retrieving Data Using the REST API in Data API Builder – SQLServerCentral

3 weeks ago | sqlservercentral.com | Steve Jones

I wrote a piece on getting started with the Data API Builder (DAB), which looked at how this product works and how to start using it. That was a basic look, but it gives data professionals an idea of how this might help them work more closely with front-end developers who are more comfortable with API access to data and dislike SQL.
The Fabric Modern Data Platform – SQLServerCentral

1 month ago | sqlservercentral.com | John Miner

A New and Improved Data Warehouse: Data Engineering with FabricIn this next installment, John performs the research you might do if your management asked you to examine Fabric.
Comparing My Current Schema with a Backup with SQL Compare – SQLServerCentral

1 month ago | sqlservercentral.com | Steve Jones

A customer asked if they needed to restore a database from backup to compare the schema in a database. They don’t and this post shows that. This is part of a series of posts on SQL Compare. Setting Up a ComparisonWhen I open SQL Compare, I see a screen that looks like what I’ve shown below, with a database to database comparison. At the top, to the left of “Source”, there is a drop down arrow.
Create Raw Zone Tables using Generative AI: Data Engineering with Fabric – SQLServerCentral

1 month ago | sqlservercentral.com | John Miner

Microsoft has been talking about the Modern Data Platform for a long time. I first heard about this concept about seven years ago in which there were two architectural designs: either store data in Azure SQL Database and transform data using stored procedures; or land data in Azure Data Lake Storage Gen 1 and transform data with USQL. Roll forward seven years, many things have changed. Most people are transitioning to Microsoft Fabric.
CHOOSE’ing a Beer: #SQLNewBlogger – SQLServerCentral

1 month ago | sqlservercentral.com | Steve Jones

We recently published an article on CHOOSE at SQL Server Central. I thought it was a good intro, but as someone noted in the comments, how do you use CHOOSE? Do you have to hard code choices? This post shows you don’t. Another post for me that is simple and hopefully serves as an example for people trying to get blogging as #SQLNewBloggers. A ScenarioI have a table that contains some data. In this case, about beer. I like beer, and this was a fun little demo.
Can an AI Help Me Find a Job? – SQLServerCentral

2 months ago | sqlservercentral.com | Steve Jones

I’m not looking for a job, but I ran across an article about using AI tools for a job search. So I decided to try it out. I followed a couple of those prompts and get some results. Here is a set of things I did. Salary CalculatorsI ran this prompt from the article: What are some of the best salary calculators for a Data/SQL Server professional? Provide a list of your top 4 recommendations and the pros and cons of each one. Provide any helpful links. Format as a table. The results? Mixed.
A New Word: Waldosia – SQLServerCentral

2 months ago | sqlservercentral.com | Steve Jones

waldosia– n. a condition in which you keep scanning faces in a crowd looking for a specific person who would have no reason to be there, as if your brain is checking to see whether they’re still in your life, subconsciously patting its emotional pockets before it leaves for the day. This is an interesting word to me, and I find myself in waldosia at volleyball tournaments looking for past players.
A Couple Quick GENERATE_SERIES Tests – SQLServerCentral

2 months ago | sqlservercentral.com | Steve Jones

I had someone reach out about generate_series() recently, saying they hadn’t realized this was a new feature in SQL Server 2022. They were wondering if it was better than using a tally table. I didn’t want to do an exhaustive test, but I thought I’d take a minute and try a couple simple things just to see. A First TestThe first thing was to just generate a million numbers. Rather than just get the numbers. I decided to use a quick DATEADD() to create a list of calendar dates.