SQL Server Engine Tips
Guidelines, Best Practices, TSQL and SQL Programming Tips & Tricks.
Converting from hex string to varbinary and vice versa
Converting hexadecimal values to varbinary and vice versa is now easier using the XQuery...
Date: 07/02/2008
Converting from Base64 to varbinary and vice versa
Converting Base64 values to varbinary and vice versa is now easier using the XQuery functionality...
Date: 06/30/2008
Differences between ISNULL and COALESCE
I came across a question in the SQL Server MVP newsgroup recently about ISNULL and COALESCE usage....
Date: 06/26/2008
Spool operators in query plan...
I came across a question in the relationalserver.performance newsgroup where a customer was...
Date: 08/30/2007
SQL Server 2005 SP2 Re-release and post fixes
Bob Ward from PSS has a wonderful blog article that explains the details about the re-release of SQL...
Date: 04/11/2007
New MSDN Books Online search functionality
Check out the new Books Online search functionality online. The link below provides a scoped search...
Date: 03/30/2007
SQL Server 2005 Performance Dashboard Reports
The SQL Server 2005 Performance Dashboard Reports are Reporting Services report files designed to be...
Date: 03/29/2007
OBJECT_NAME enhancement and OBJECT_SCHEMA_NAME addition in SQL Server 2005 SP2
SQL Server 2005 SP2 has an important enhancement to OBJECT_NAME metadata function and a new...
Date: 03/23/2007
SQL Server Performance Engineering Team Blog
I would like to announce the blog from my team - SQL Server Performance Engineering. Feel free to...
Date: 02/27/2007
SQL Server 2005 SP2 has been released...
SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2 has been released. You can find more information from the service...
Date: 02/19/2007
Database Applications Profile Survey in https://connect.microsoft.com/sqlserver
My team (Data & SQL Storage Performance Team) is conducting a survey on...
Date: 02/04/2007
SQL Server 2005 SP2 December CTP is available for download
SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2 December CTP is available now for download. You can download it from:...
Date: 12/19/2006
Download SQL Server 2005 SP2 CTP
SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2 (SP2) CTP has been released. You can provide feedback on the CTP...
Date: 11/08/2006
Disabled anonymous comments...
I have disabled anonymous comments due to the inordinate number of spam comments. And since I had...
Date: 11/04/2006
Top 5 relational data warehouse performance improvements you would like to see in next version of SQL Server
Hello Everyone, We are currently looking at top performance issues for various workloads and how we...
Date: 09/20/2006
Top 5 OLTP performance improvements you would like to see in the next version of SQL Server
Hello Everyone, We are currently looking at top performance issues for various workloads and how we...
Date: 09/20/2006
Using catalog views in SQL Server 2005
Did you know that the catalog views in SQL Server 2005 exposes metadata for various objects in a...
Date: 09/06/2006
DATALENGTH optimizations for LOB data types...
DATALENGTH function in TSQL can be used to find the actual length in bytes of the data in a specific...
Date: 07/14/2006
New whitepapers on physical database storage and tempdb...
Below are links to two new whitepapers from the storage engine team. Please check it out to get...
Date: 06/22/2006
Troubleshooting deadlocks in SQL Server 2005
SQL Server 2005 adds new capabilities to troubleshoot deadlocks. I talked about the new trace flag...
Date: 06/12/2006
Use of SCHEMABINDING option for TSQL UDFs can improve performance in SQL Server 2005...
SQL Server 2005 has new optimization logic to use the SCHEMABINDING option to derive certain...
Date: 06/12/2006
Oracle's PERCENTILE_CONT implementation using SQL Server 2005 analytic functions...
I saw an interesting question today in the MSDN Transact-SQL forum about implementing...
Date: 05/15/2006
Running Index Tuning Wizard (ITW) or Database Engine Tuning Advisor (DTA) on production machines...
Index Tuning Wizard (ITW in SQL Server 2000) or Database Engine Tuning Advisor (DTA in SQL Server...
Date: 02/14/2006
New trace flag for deadlock output and profiler deadlock event enhancement
Did you know that SQL Server 2005 adds a new trace flag (-T1222) for deadlock trace output? This...
Date: 02/14/2006
Performance tips...
I recently moved to the Central Performance Team in the SQL Server product group. My group is...
Date: 02/14/2006
Top 5 SQL/TSQL/Engine features summary of responses...
You can find below the summary of responses for the top 5 features requested for next version of SQL...
Date: 10/17/2005
Renaming logins in SQL Server 2005...
Did you know that SQL Server 2005 supports renaming logins? This can be done via ALTER LOGIN...
Date: 10/10/2005
Use of INFORMATION_SCHEMA views to access temp tables.
An MVP recently sent us an email asking how to use the INFORMATION_SCHEMA views to access temp...
Date: 10/07/2005
Top 5 features you would like to see in the next version of SQL Server
Here is an opportunity to discuss about the top 5 features that you would like to see in the next...
Date: 10/07/2005
.99 US $ TPC-C price/performance benchmark for SQL Server 2005
Microsoft and Dell broke the $1 barrier with SQL Server 2005 x64 Standard Edition running on an...
Date: 10/07/2005
SQL Server 2005 features that are dependent on Windows Server 2003...
The question about what features are supported by SQL Server 2005 running on Windows Server 2003...
Date: 10/06/2005
Find Top N costly query plans in adhoc batches or modules...
I encountered a problem about a query not using a particular indexed view in SQL Server 2005. To...
Date: 10/05/2005
Request for topics...
Please post requests for topics or features that you would like to know about. This can be any of...
Date: 09/22/2005
Determine primary keys and unique keys for all tables in a database...
With SQL Server 2005, there are new ways to obtain richer metadata in a database and more...
Date: 09/16/2005
Determining optimal MAXDOP setting from TSQL in SQL Server 2005
For optimal performance of multi-processor installations, we recommend that the MAXDOP setting...
Date: 09/14/2005
Renaming sa account in SQL Server 2005
SQL Server 2005 introduces a revamped security model including users and schema separation &...
Date: 08/27/2005
Getting SQL Server registry settings via SQLCLR table-valued user-defined function...
SQL Server stores several configuration values like data path root, program directory, default...
Date: 08/19/2005
Feedback requested on database mirroring...
Database mirroring is one of the new high availability features in SQL Server 2005. More details on...
Date: 07/29/2005
Ordering guarantees in SQL Server...
Ordering guarantees of queries in various context is a common source of confusion. For example, a...
Date: 07/20/2005
Direct dependencies on a column...
I came across a question recently about discovering the constraints that are dependent on a column...
Date: 07/05/2005
Using ANSI SQL style DECLARE CURSOR statement in UDF...
Today I encountered a post in the Microsoft Technical forums where a user was trying to use the ANSI...
Date: 06/22/2005
OUTPUT clause in INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE statements
SQL Server 2005 introduces a new TSQL feature that allows you to retrieve data affected by...
Date: 06/13/2005
Test linked server connection settings...
Have you ever encountered a scenario in SQL Server 2000 where you want to test the connectivity of a...
Date: 06/07/2005
Performing batched updates...
Updating a large table is a common scenario. This is often encountered in cases of applications that...
Date: 05/31/2005
Welcome !
Welcome to the SQL Server Engine Tips blog - hosted by the engine program management team. The...
Date: 05/19/2005