This article targets the beginners and gives an introduction of the clustered index in SQL Server.
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SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
Send an alert when the database state changes to SQL Server single-user mode
December 18, 2019This article explains the SQL Server single-user mode and how to configure an automated email alert when the state of the user database changes to the single-user mode. To send an alert, we will create a DDL trigger that executes when the user runs the ALTER DATABASE query. It collects the pieces of information using EVENTDATA() function, saves it in a temporary table, and sends an HTML formatted email.
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How to create a view in SQL Server
December 16, 2019In this article, we will learn the basics of the view concept in SQL Server and then explore methods to create a view in SQL using T-SQL and SQL Server Management Studio.
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Importing Data into SQL Server from MySQL using SSMS
November 29, 2019This article shows the best way to import a copy of your MySQL database table to SQL Server using the SQL Server import data feature. We’ll demonstrate how to perform data import and export using a query with the assistance of SQL Server Management Studio.
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Working with XML Data in SQL Server
October 11, 2019XML (eXtensible Markup Language) is one of the most common formats used to share information between different platforms. Owing to its simplicity and readability, it has become the de-facto standard for data sharing. In addition, XML is easily extendable.
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How to create and configure a linked server to connect to MySQL in SQL Server Management Studio
October 7, 2019This article will guide you with all the necessary steps to successfully create a linked server in SSMS to connect to the MySQL database.
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Nested Triggers in SQL Server
March 27, 2019Nested Triggers in SQL Server are actions that automatically execute when a certain database operation is performed, for example, INSERT, DROP, UPDATE etc.
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Importing and Working with CSV Files in SQL Server
January 28, 2019Introduction
CSV (comma separated values) is one of the most popular formats for datasets used in machine learning and data science. MS Excel can be used for basic manipulation of data in CSV format. We often need to execute complex SQL queries on CSV files, which is not possible with MS Excel. See this article for what is possible with Power BI.
However, before we can execute complex SQL queries on CSV files, we need to convert CSV files to data tables.
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Database Upgrade using the Query Tuning Assistant wizard in SSMS 18
December 6, 2018This article will cover managing a SQL Server database upgrade using new features in SQL Server Management Studio 18 including the query tuning assistant wizard, database upgrade feature, query store and more
Static Data Masking in SSMS 18
December 6, 2018In this article we are going to talk about Static Data Masking, a new feature for the SQL Databases in SSMS. Static Data Masking feature previously was available only for the Azure SQL DB.
SQL Execution Plan enhancements in SSMS 18.0
November 13, 2018This article will provide an overview of the SSMS 18.0 with particular focus on improvements to the SQL execution plan feature. To work with Microsoft SQL Server Database Engine, you need to have an environment to edit, debug and deploy scripts written in different languages such as T-SQL, DAX, MDX, XML and JSON. In addition, you need a GUI tool that helps you to configure, query, monitor and administrate your SQL Server instances wherever they are hosted; locally at your machine, on a remote Windows or Linux server or in the cloud. All this can be achieved using SQL Server Management Studio aka SSMS.
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SQL Server Execution Plan Operators – Part 4
October 29, 2018In the previous articles of this series, we went through three sets of SQL Server Execution Plan operators that you will meet with while working with the different Execution Plan queries. We described the Table Scan, Clustered Index Scan, Clustered Index Seek, the Non-Clustered Index Seek, RID Lookup, Key Lookup, Sort, Aggregate – Stream Aggregate, Compute Scalar, Concatenation, Assert, Hash Match Join, Hash Match Aggregate , Merge Join and Nested Loops Join Execution Plan operators. In this article, we will dive in the fourth set of these SQL Server Execution Plan operators.
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SQL Server Execution Plan Operators – Part 3
October 29, 2018In the previous articles of this series, we discussed a group of SQL Server Execution Plan operators that you will face when studying the SQL Execution Plan of different queries. We showed the Table Scan, Clustered Index Scan, Clustered Index Seek, the Non-Clustered Index Seek, RID Lookup, Key Lookup and Sort Execution Plan operators. In this article, we will discuss the third set of these SQL Execution Plan operators.
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SQL Server Execution Plan Operators – Part 2
October 26, 2018In the previous article, we talked about the first set of operators you may encounter when working with SQL Server Execution Plans. We described the Non Clustered Index, Seek Execution Plan operators, Table Scan, Clustered Index Scan, and the Clustered Index Seek. In this article, we will discuss the second set of these SQL Server execution plan operators.
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Manage SQL code formatting using SQL formatter options
October 24, 2018This article will provide a review of SQL code formatting using the SQL formatter options in SSMS
Nobody likes to read a large amount of text, even when it’s just a plain one. When reading SQL script where there is a large amount of non-formatted SQL code, the problem becomes even bigger.
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SQL Server Execution Plan Operators – Part 1
September 12, 2018In the previous articles of this series, SQL Server Execution Plans overview , SQL Server Execution Plans types and How to Analyze SQL Execution Plan Graphical Components, we discussed the steps that are performed by the SQL Server Relational Engine to generate the Execution Plan of a submitted query and the steps performed by the SQL Server Storage Engine to retrieve the requested data or perform the requested modification operation.
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How to Analyze SQL Execution Plan Graphical Components
September 7, 2018In the previous articles of this series, SQL Server Execution Plans overview and SQL Server Execution Plans types we went through the different stages that the submitted SQL Server query followed and how it processed by the SQL Server Relational Engine that generates the Execution Plan and the SQL Server Storage Engine that performs the requested data retrieval or modification operation. In addition, we described deeply the different types and formats of the SQL Server Execution Plans that can be used for query performance troubleshooting purposes. In this article, we will discuss the graphical query plan components and how to analyze them.
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Performance troubleshooting when the query plan from the application is different than SSMS
August 24, 2018Troubleshooting performance issues in a database is one of the main jobs of DBAs and by now most can trace the problem back to a query which is either running to slow or is causing a blocking issue on a key table. However, what is often not known is why this doesn’t cause problems in SSMS or why you don’t get the same query plan as what is inside the app. For example, in your extended event trace you see the query running longer from the application when compared to SSMS.
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4K resolution and high DPI: What you need to know about it to have great visuals
April 26, 20184K resolution, AKA Ultra HD, refers to a horizontal screen display resolution in the order of approximately 3,840 pixels. On two-dimensional display devices such as computer monitors, it represents display resolution of 3840×2160 pixels which is four times as many pixels as regular Full High Definition (1920×1080). What this means for users is the more pixels per inch (PPI) the higher resolution on the monitor. In other words, you can be closer to the monitor and still enjoy a crisp, clear picture.
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What’s new in SSMS 17.5; Data Discovery and Classification and more
April 16, 2018SQL Server Management Studio aka SSMS is the default integrated graphical user interface tool that is used to access, administrate, configure, manage, query and monitor the different SQL Server instances that are hosted locally at the user machine, remotely on a server or anywhere in the cloud. It is a comprehensive environment that allows us to edit, debug and deploy scripts written in different languages such as T-SQL, DAX, MDX, XML and more.
In my previous articles, we followed the enhancements to the existing SSMS features, the fixes to the bugs found and reported in the previous SSMS versions and the new features added to each new release. These new features that are introduced in the previous versions include the Connections dialog box new options, the embedded Performance Dashboard, Showplan node search, Import Flat File Wizard, the XEvent Profiler and Always On Availability Group dashboard new additions, which are described deeply in these articles.
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How to enable High-DPI in SSMS (SQL Server Management Studio) – Tips, tricks and issues
April 11, 2018SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) is getting better and better with each new release but Microsoft seems to ignore one big issue affecting a group of users that grows rapidly as the technology moves forward and we move on to modern workstations and laptops.
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SQL Server data compression using the SSMS Data Compression Wizard
April 3, 2018Every DBA knows that database grows over time and that the growth never stops. The more data is in the database, the more time (work) SQL Server is needed in order to deal with it. From SQL Server 2008 on, new tools are available in order to help DBAs to reduce the size of database.
This article will describe SQL Server data compression and the SSMS Data Compression Wizard will be explained.
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Debugging stored procedures in SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
February 20, 2018Debugging is one of the most important but painful parts of any software process. To find some errors you have to run the code step by step to see which section of the code is responsible for the error. This is called runtime debugging.
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What’s new in SQL Server Management Studio 17.4; Always On AG dashboard enhancements and more
December 27, 2017As all other database engines that require a GUI too to interact with, Microsoft built SQL Server Management Studio as a tool that provides an environment to manage, configure, monitor and administrate the SQL Server infrastructure for different kind of instances, that are installed locally at your machine, on a remote server with Windows or Linux operating systems or hosted in the cloud such as SQL Azure or Azure Data warehouse.
Recall that the SQL Server Management Studio consists of the Object Explorer, which is used to view and manage all objects within the SQL Server instance, the Template Explorer, that is used to deal with the scripting text files and the Solution Explorer, that is responsible for building the projects that contain list of T-SQL scripts in SQL Server.
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What’s new in SQL Server Management Studio 17.4; SQL Vulnerability assessment and more
December 26, 2017Microsoft released the latest version of the SQL Server Management Studio 17.4 a few weeks back. This release brings in exciting new features and bug fixes to the SSMS IDE for SQL Developers and DBAs. In this article, we will look at a new inbuilt tool for identifying security vulnerabilities in your database. We will also understand the improvements made to the XEvent Profiler and ShowPlan features.
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