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...

Author: sqletips 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...

Author: sqletips 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....

Author: sqletips Date: 06/26/2008

Spool operators in query plan...

I came across a question in the relationalserver.performance newsgroup where a customer was...

Author: sqletips 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...

Author: sqletips 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...

Author: sqletips 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...

Author: sqletips 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...

Author: sqletips 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...

Author: sqletips 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...

Author: sqletips 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...

Author: sqletips 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:...

Author: sqletips 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...

Author: sqletips Date: 11/08/2006

Disabled anonymous comments...

I have disabled anonymous comments due to the inordinate number of spam comments. And since I had...

Author: sqletips 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...

Author: sqletips 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...

Author: sqletips 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...

Author: sqletips 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...

Author: sqletips 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...

Author: sqletips 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...

Author: sqletips 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...

Author: sqletips 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...

Author: sqletips 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...

Author: sqletips 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...

Author: sqletips Date: 02/14/2006

Performance tips...

I recently moved to the Central Performance Team in the SQL Server product group. My group is...

Author: sqletips 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...

Author: sqletips 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...

Author: sqletips 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...

Author: sqletips 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...

Author: sqletips 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...

Author: sqletips 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...

Author: sqletips 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...

Author: sqletips 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...

Author: sqletips 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...

Author: sqletips 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...

Author: sqletips Date: 09/14/2005

Renaming sa account in SQL Server 2005

SQL Server 2005 introduces a revamped security model including users and schema separation &...

Author: sqletips 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...

Author: sqletips 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...

Author: sqletips 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...

Author: sqletips 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...

Author: sqletips 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...

Author: sqletips 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...

Author: sqletips 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...

Author: sqletips Date: 06/07/2005

Performing batched updates...

Updating a large table is a common scenario. This is often encountered in cases of applications that...

Author: sqletips Date: 05/31/2005

Welcome !

Welcome to the SQL Server Engine Tips blog - hosted by the engine program management team. The...

Author: sqletips Date: 05/19/2005