September 2019
• Checking the Version and Build Number of an SSIS Package
  
September 2018
• Checking Whether Connections to SQL Server are Encrypted
  
November 2017
• Amazon RDS - Common Issues with native SQL Server backup and restore
  
October 2017
• SQL BITS Conference - London 2018
  
February 2017
• SQL Server TCP Port vs TCP Dynamic Ports
  
January 2017
• Registered Servers vs Central Management Servers
  
November 2016
• Amazon RDS – Creating a native (.bak) Backup of a SQL Server Database in RDS
  
June 2016
• Searching ALL SQL Server Logs using TSQL
  
May 2016
• Pros and Cons of Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) Part 1 of 3
  
• Setting up Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) Part 2 of 3
  

SQL Matters is a resource for SQL Server Developers, Architects, DBAs and others interested in SQL Server and related technologies . Our site contains a wide range of articles, tips, blogs, quiz questions and other information about the SQL Server range of products. This includes Integration Services (SSIS), Reporting Services (SSRS), Analysis Services (SSAS) and some other products that we feel might be of interest to the SQL Server community such as PowerPivot and Report Builder.

Here are some examples of technical information that you might be interested in :

• Formatting a number with thousand separators
• Splitting the query window in SSMS
• Determining the last time SQL Server was started

Sometimes it can be useful to add thousand separators (commas) to large numbers to make them easier to view. There is no simple way to do this in SQL for an int and bigint, but it can be achieved by converting to a money type first. This article explains how.

SQL Server provides a lot of information in the Data Management Views (DMVs). This script shows how to identify indexes which are never actually used, by using DMVs such as dm_db_index_usage_stats and dm_db_index_operational_stats.

What is the result of the following SQL query ?
Choose one : a) 3    b) 6    c) 50    d) 100