An update to the cardinality estimator feature in SQL Server 2022 will be one of the biggest changes to the database engine since its inception. Database engines like SQL Server are incredibly complex ...

Database performance is rarely a single "fix it and forget it" task. SQL Server workloads shift over time. A sluggish ...

The SQL Server query optimizer would first construct a query plan for a batch of T-SQL code, a stored procedure, or function and then submit that plan for processing in a way that once started, it had ...

Microsoft has just added support for query hints to Azure SQL Database, giving database administrators a powerful tool to manage the performance of ISV application code. Here's how it works. Database ...

SQL Sentry Plan Explorer was launched two years ago and has since become one of the most popular free tools available to the SQL Server Community. The latest version adds several requested features, ...

SQL Sentry, LLC., the developer of award-winning software for SQL Server performance monitoring and tuning, is pleased to announce that all Plan Explorer features are ...

With the latest public preview available, it’s time to decide if you want to upgrade to Microsoft’s most cloud-connected version of SQL Server so far. Three decades on, SQL Server is still a database ...

(You can also use a query hint to force SQL Server to use the columnstore index). Columnstore index usage will show up in the query execution plan, just like any other type of index. Columnstore ...

JSON has stolen some of XML's thunder with features such as human and machine readability, a lightweight, compact text structure and support for many software and hardware platforms. JSON (JavaScript ...

If your business uses relational databases to store data, it helps to use the SQL SELECT command with the INTO clause to create new tables from query results. This method isn't ANSI-standard SQL, but ...