An Alternative to SELECT COUNT(*) for Better Performance
Sometimes rapid code development doesn't always produce the most efficient code. Take the age old line of code SELECT COUNT(*)...
2013-05-07
5,299 reads
Everyday SQL
Merging SQL Server and Softball Just for Fun
With opening day of Major League Baseball season finally here, I thought I’d take the time to cover two of...
2013-04-02
1,297 reads
Use Powershell to Pick Up what Database Mirroring Leaves Behind
Database mirroring has been around since SQL Server 2005, and it's turned out to be an excellent step up from...
2013-03-26
2,460 reads
T-SQL Tuesday #40 - Proportional Fill within a Filegroup
T-SQL Tuesday #40 is underway, and this month's host is Jennifer McCown (blog|twitter). The topic is about File and Filegroup...
2013-03-15 (first published: 2013-03-12)
2,907 reads
Dealing with a Fragmented Heap
Just for the record, this happens to be one of my favorite interview questions to ask candidates.
At some point in...
2013-03-05
2,353 reads
The Performance Impact to Prefix Stored Procedures with sp_
Last week I ran across a blog post by Axel Achten (B|T) that outlined a few reasons why you should...
2013-02-19
1,474 reads
T-SQL Tuesday - Use Powershell to Restore a Database on a Different Server
T-SQL Tuesday - This month's party is hosted by Wayne Sheffield (blog|twitter), and the topic is about Powershell and how to use...
2013-02-12
8,180 reads
What is DBCC SHOW_STATISTICS Telling Me About My Data?
Per Books Online, DBCC SHOW_STATISTICS displays current query optimization statistics for a table or indexed view. Basically it shows you...
2013-02-14 (first published: 2013-02-05)
5,493 reads
How to Remove (Undo) Table Partitioning
I have seen plenty of articles and blog posts out there for how to setup and implement table partitioning, but...
2013-02-04 (first published: 2013-01-29)
8,830 reads
sp_PerformanceCounters - Get a Health Check of SQL Server's Performance
During your career as a DBA, you'll run across articles by SQL experts or other DBAs that just give you...
2013-01-22
1,367 reads
Blogs
Announcements from the Microsoft Fabric Community Conference — Barcelona 2026
By James Serra
Microsoft shared a broad set of Fabric, Power BI, and SQL updates at FabCon...
Au Revoir for now
By Steve Jones
No, I’m not quitting or retiring. Just going on vacation, but I leave tonight...
Forums
Let's Talk Certifications
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Let's Talk Certifications, which is...
Force join by longest possible choice
Title pretty much says it. I want to join to a table that has...
Building a SQL Server Fleet Audit That Leadership Actually Reads
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Building a SQL Server Fleet...
Question of the Day
The Empty Aggregate
I have this table in a SQL Server 2025 database:
CREATE TABLE [dbo].[CustomerOrder] ( [OrderID] [int] NULL, [CustomerID] [int] NULL, [total] [money] NULL ) ON [PRIMARY] GOWhat is returned from this code? (answers are for the sum and then the count)
SELECT SUM(total) AS sum,
COUNT(total) AS count
FROM dbo.CustomerOrder;
See possible answers