I've been playing with the new SQL Server Data Tools, and I'm impressed by the way Microsoft has gotten the product out for review and is improving it with user-requested functionality. I've been ...

I've been playing around with the new SQL Server Data Tools, and although many have complained about missing features compared to the "Data Dude" Visual Studio projects and other tools that SSDT ...

Microsoft's SQL Server toolbox is a morass of acronyms, from SMO to SSMS to SOS, and differentiating one from the other can be a challenge. I recently caught up with Vicky Harp, lead program manager ...

Using SSDT means we don't just shout orders at the database; instead, we plan what we're going to say. For almost 13 years, Microsoft has tried to make Visual Studio a place where developers can do ...

SQL Server 2016, the next major release of Microsoft’s flagship database and analytics platform (which is available as a Community Technology Preview [CTP] as of this writing), includes exciting ...

Database administration tasks can be time consuming so they require a comprehensive range of tools. Tasks can be error-prone, especially when they involve developing, testing, and maintaining custom ...

On Tuesday Microsoft announced the release to manufacturing for SQL Server 2012 as well as an "evaluation version" for download, with general availability coming April 1. With this release, Microsoft ...

In this second delve into data cleanliness (read the first, How clean is your data?, here), we’ll test-drive the data profiling tool provided with Microsoft SQL Server. Other profiling tools have ...