Categories
SQL Server

Database Projects in SSMS Aren’t Quite There (Yet)

Last month in SSMS v22.4, we had the Database DevOps (preview) workload introduced which brings with it Database Projects. Last week I shared my favourite features for them which make deployments amazing. But if you’ve tried them out in SSMS you might have noticed that not everything is present. It’s a preview, after all. So what can we […]

Categories
SQL Server

Database Projects are Amazing for Deployments

If you’ve been using Database Projects for simply maintaining copies of your database objects – like I used to – then you’ve been missing out on the power of its deployments. Initially I was sceptical about how it could effectively perform upgrades but after seeing them land in SSMS last month I wanted to revisit them as a means […]

Categories
Azure SQL

Syncing Logins Across Managed Instance Failover Groups

Failover Groups for Managed Instances are a great option to replicate data, but they don’t replicate key instance elements – one of which is logins that live in the master database. If left unchecked, failovers leave systems unable to connect and panic ensues. To alleviate this we’ll look at a script to synchronise logins and […]

Categories
SQL

Why TOP (1) Can Return Multiple Rows (and Why That Matters)

Having TOP (1) return multiple rows feels wrong… but that’s what WITH TIES can do. For a long time I used patterns like this to get the first record in a group: Then I found the cleaner alternative: Let’s dive into what it is, and why you (probably) shouldn’t use it. WITH TIES The WITH TIES syntax was added over 20 years ago but it […]