Categories
SQL

Performance Enhancements for Vertical Partitioning

We’ve previously looked at how to implement vertical partitioning and the benefits it can bring within our data. Here I’d like to dive a little further into improving the performance even further with a couple of modifications to our schema. We’ll use the same setup as we had previously to create the table, populate it and partition it. This results in […]

Categories
SQL

Benefits of Vertical Partitioning

We recently looked at implementing vertical partitioning on a set of data. In an earlier introduction post we also mentioned the benefits which can be seen as a result of the partitioning in both our maintenance and querying of the data. Here we’ll take a look at those benefits with a little more evidence. We’ll be using the data […]

Categories
SQL Server

Boolean Value Storage

Within SQL Server we can store Boolean data using the BIT data type. This value is a single bit which will store a True or False (or null) value. However if you dive a little deeper with the data type it’s actually a little less clear cut in terms of the storage needed for this data type. […]

Categories
SQL

Implementing Vertical Partitioning

We previously looked at an introduction to Vertical Partitioning where we covered what it is and the potential benefits and drawbacks of using it. Here I wanted to build up some data and show how we may vertically partition it to help make it more manageable for us. So that we’ve got some relevant data to use […]

Categories
SQL

Checking Data Types for Stored Procedure Results

When executing stored procedures it may appear simple enough to infer the data types which are being returned. However if those data types aren’t what you’d expect this could have downstream implications for the apps which are consuming the data. If we want to look at data in a table or view we can use […]

Categories
SQL

Introduction to Vertical Partitioning

When dealing with large volumes of data in SQL Server we may need to look for strategies to make querying and managing the data easier to handle. A few months back we looked at an approach where we partitioned our data into multiple segments by applying partition functions and schemes to our tables. This helps […]

Categories
SQL

Querying with Aliases

When writing larger queries which return more fields or join together an increasing number of tables it can be easy for scripts to get unruly. A fundamental skill to help with the readablity of you queries is through the use of Aliases. An alias provides us a was to change how we reference part of […]

Categories
SQL

Performance Considerations using APPLY

In the previous post we looked at how to use the CROSS APPLY and OUTER APPLY operators as alternative to a JOIN in queries with some examples. As we wrapped that up I also mentioned that there can be drawbacks to using APPLY in our queries, particularly when we’re working with large data sets. The issue is due to the way that the right hand […]

Categories
SQL

Using Cross Apply and Outer Apply

When joining data in SQL we have a number of options to us including INNER and OUTER joins, but one of the ones I tend to use less frequently is the APPLY operator, specifically the CROSS APPLY and OUTER APPLY operators. As with other types of joins they operate slightly differently and have considerations which should be taken into account when deciding on the output […]

Categories
SQL

Complex Updates and Deletes

The UPDATE and DELETE statements allow us to manage the data within our databases and being able to use them effectively is key. There was recently a question from a junior developer asking about how to perform data changes when table joins are required so I thought it a good opportunity to put forward some more thought out details […]