(Pinal Dave) I need your help. I recently came across extended stored procedure xp_sscanf. After reading a lot about it and searching online, I could not figure out how and where in real world, I will use this function.

(Sadequl Hussain) It is a fact of life: SQL Server databases change homes. They move from one instance to another, from one version to the next, from old servers to new ones. They move around as an organisation’s data grows, applications are enhanced or new versions of the database software are rel

(Kenneth Fisher) So I was studying for the 70-451 and ended up reading the BOL entry for CREATE SCHEMA. I honestly can’t remember why, but what I do remember is thinking “CREATE SCHEMA can do what?!?!?” but with maybe a few more exclamation points.

(Dan Kearney) A Line-Of-Business app, previously using SQL Server 2005, manages patient’s medical bills documents, as well as supporting and output documents related to the processing of those bills. Once a document is generated, no modifications are allowed, and only in rare cases is a delete allow

(Derek Colley) You, as a SQL Server data professional, are looking for ways to improve your queries. You’ve done the usual – avoided cursors and loops, used locks effectively, examined execution plans – what else can you tweak?

(Steve Stedman) DBCC FreeSessionCache is only available on SQL Server 2005 and newer it removes all queries from the distributed query cache. This however does not impact anything in the standard procedure cache, to clear the standard procedure cache use DBCC FreeProcCache instead.

(Pinal Dave) Have you ever worked with CONCAT_NULL_YIELDS_NULL earlier in your career? If yes, you will find this post very interesting. If you have not worked with this function before I think this post will teach you something very interesting.

(Grant Fritchey) Have you heard this statement or others like it? This is usually delivered early in a development cycle when someone, probably not the person spewing these words of “wisdom,” suggests that performance should be taken into account when designing and building the database, or laying o

(Svetlana Golovko) We need to exclude SQL Server database files from Antivirus and Third Party Backup Software (to make sure that files are not accessed directly). How can we be sure that all of our SQL Server file extensions are using the standard file extensions for database files?

(Pinal Dave) Presenting a technical session is a greatest experience one can have and I enjoy doing the same. While I write this blog post, I am presenting at Great Indian Developer Summit in India. The event is a grand success and I am having a great time at this event.