The SQL Like is a logical operator that is used to determine whether a specific character string matches a specified pattern. It is commonly used in a Where clause to search for a specified pattern in a column.
Read more »Overview of the SQL ROW_NUMBER function
November 13, 2018In this article, we’re going to discuss the SQL ROW_NUMBER function. This is a continuation of the SQL essential series. In this guide, I’ll explain what a window function is all about, and you’ll see sample examples to understand the concepts behind the SQL ROW_NUMBER function.
Read more »The new SQL Server 2019 function Approx_Count_Distinct
November 9, 2018SQL Server 2019 has a rich set of enhancements and new features. In particular, there are many new feature improvements in the database engine for better performance and query tuning.
Read more »How to use JSON data in Azure Machine Learning
November 9, 2018Azure Machine Learning (also known as Azure ML) is cloud-based machine learning solution of Microsoft. Microsoft Azure Machine Learning is a fully-managed cloud-based service that provides the ability to create and train predictive analytic solutions. Another advantage of Azure ML is that you can access and easily make changes anywhere in machine learning models with help of Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio.
Read more »Hexbin Scatterplot in Power BI Desktop
November 9, 2018We have explored useful visualizations in Power BI Desktop with my previous articles that covered:
Read more »Columnstore Index Enhancements – Index stats update in clone databases
November 9, 2018SQL Server was launched in 1993 on WinNT and it completed its 25-year anniversary recently. SQL Server has come a long way since its first release. At the same time, Microsoft announced a preview version of SQL Server 2019. SQL Server 2019 provides the ability to extend its support to big data, Apache Spark, Hadoop distributed file system (HDFS) and provides enhancements to database performance, security, new features, and enhancements to SQL Server on Linux.
Read more »Getting Started with Azure Cosmos DB and MongoDB API
November 7, 2018In the previous article on Azure Cosmos DB, we reviewed NoSQL concepts and how to integrate with the Microsoft Azure platform-as-a-service model using the API. After working as a database engineer for over a decade, I feel that this technology is the future for many organizations for various reasons. I had that in mind as I wrote this article which will provide basic information and help you to get started with MongoDB API integration. The MongoDB API works with BSON documents. BSON is MongoDB’s binary-encoded-version of JSON, and it extends the JSON model with additional language feature support. It’s a great effort from Microsoft to build the enterprise solutions which provide flexibility in manage distributed data along with scalable option.
Read more »How to secure Reporting Services with Group Managed Service Accounts (GMSA)
November 7, 2018In this article, we will explore the functionality to secure reporting Services with Group Managed Service accounts ( GMSA)
Read more »Power BI desktop Mekko Charts
November 6, 2018In my last articles on Power BI Desktop (see the index at the bottom of the article), we have explored that Power BI has a rich set of visualizations. We can present data using various custom visuals available from Microsoft AppSource. These visuals are available free to download and use it as per our requirements.
Read more »Enhanced PolyBase SQL 2019 – External tables SQL Server, Catalog view and PushDown
November 6, 2018This article is part 4 of the series for SQL Server 2019 Enhanced PolyBase. Let quickly recap the previous articles.
Read more »How to use JSON data in SSRS
November 6, 2018In this article, we will explore the concept of using JSON data in SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS). This usage concept will include a different approach than the usual methodologies because we will take advantage of SQL Server R service support.
What is JSON?
JSON is an abbreviation for JavaScriptObjectNotation. The main purpose of JSON data was to provide data transfer between server and web applications for JavaScript but today’s JSON is the most popular data interchange format. JSON offers two advantages to us. These are; light-weight text based format easily readable by humans. Currently, JSON is not only used in JavaScript applications, it is also used in all popular software programing languages like JavaScript, C++, C#, Perl, Java, Python, Php etc.
Read more »Graph database implementation with Azure Cosmos DB using the API
November 5, 2018In my previous article, I’ve discussed a lot about the Graph database implementation with SQL Server 2017. In this case, we’ll see a walk-through of Graph API integration with Azure Cosmos DB.
Before we jump into the concepts though, let’s take a high-level overview of NoSQL databases. A NoSQL database is designed in such a way that no extra efforts are needed for the database to be distributed because NoSQL Database designed that way.
Read more »SQL date format Overview; DateDiff SQL function, DateAdd SQL function and more
October 31, 2018SQL date format functions like the DateDiff SQL function and DateAdd SQL Function are oft used by DBAs but many of us never took the time to fully understand these extremely useful features. For professionals just getting started with SQL Server, these functions are some of the first to become familiar with. So hopefully this article will have a little something for everyone across the skill spectrum
Read more »Enhanced PolyBase SQL 2019 – External tables using t-SQL
October 31, 2018In this article on PolyBase, we will explore more use case scenarios for external tables using T-SQL.
Read more »SQL data classification – Add sensitivity classification in SQL Server 2019
October 31, 2018SQL Server 2019 offers powerful new features to help in safeguarding your data and complying with various privacy regulations, which we’ll be covering in this article
Read more »SQL truncate enhancement: Silent Data truncation in SQL Server 2019
October 31, 2018In this article, we’ll take a look into SQL truncate improvement in SQL Server 2019.
Data inserts and updates are a normal and regular task for the developers and database administrators as well as from the application. The source of the data can be in multiple forms as if direct insert using T-SQL, stored procedures, functions, data import from flat files, SSIS packages etc.
Read more »Data Science in SQL Server: Unpivoting Data
October 29, 2018In this article, in the series, we’ll discuss understanding and preparing data by using SQL unpivot.
Read more »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.
Read more »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.
Read more »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.
Read more »Overview of the SQL Delete statement
October 25, 2018This article on the SQL Delete is a part of the SQL essential series on key statements, functions and operations in SQL Server.
Read more »Replicating Excel’s XY Scatter Report Chart with Quadrants in SSRS
October 25, 2018In this article, I’ll share some of the tricks and tips that I had to employ in order to successfully replicate Excel’ XY Scatter Report Chart.
Read more »Machine Learning Services – Configuring R Services in SQL Server
October 25, 2018The R language is one of the most popular languages for data science, machine learning services and computational statistics. There are several IDEs that allow seamless R development. Owing to the growing popularity of the R language, R services have been included by Microsoft in SQL Server 2016 onwards. In this article, we will briefly review how we can integrate R with SQL Server 2017. We will see the installation process and will also execute the basic R commands in SQL Server 2017.
Read more »Enhanced PolyBase SQL 2019 – External tables for Oracle DB
October 24, 2018In the previous article of the series, we took an overview of PolyBase in SQL Server 2017. We also learned about the Azure Data Studio and SQL Server 2019 preview extension to explore SQL Server 2019 features.
Read more »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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