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 ...

Poke around the infrastructure of any startup website or mobile app these days, and you’re bound to find something other than a relational database doing much of the heavy lifting. Take, for example, ...

Let's break down when it's ideal to use the NOLOCK hint and when you should never use it. As a consultant, I work on wide swaths of database systems, which means I get to see many, many SQL statements ...

At the upcoming Visual Studio Live! Las Vegas developer conference, SQL expert Denny Cherry will share essential indexing ...

A free tool to reduce coding for developers who like to surface T-SQL database recordsets in a simple collection of customized POCO objects. Every so often, I find myself wishing that I had a utility ...

The structured query language is a powerful tool for connecting to many database systems that store data in tables organized into rows and columns. It's often used on the backend of business websites ...

OK, I’ll admit it. I’m not a DBA, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t overseen databases and their performance. I was (and probably still am) the guy who installed a Microsoft SQL database by hitting Next ...

The daily routine of an IT professional remains largely reactive. A lot of time and budget is spent responding to tickets, limiting the time that we spend creating systems that drive growth and ...