'The UNION, INTERSECT, and EXCEPT clauses are used to combine or exclude like rows from two or more tables. They are useful when you need to combine the results from separate queries into one single result. They differ from a join in that entire rows are matched and, as a result, included or excluded from the combined result.'
http://www.essentialsql.com/learn-to-use-union-intersect-and-except-clauses/
also see...
https://www.simple-talk.com/sql/performance/the-except-and-intersect-operators-in-sql-server/
https://www.mssqltips.com/sqlservertip/1327/compare-sql-server-datasets-with-intersect-and-except/
'Dear Customers,
The 7th cumulative update release for SQL Server 2014 SP1 is now available for download at the Microsoft Support site.
To learn more about the release or servicing model, please visit:
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/sqlreleaseservices/cumulative-update-7-for-sql-server-2014-sp1/
'Dear Customers,
The 14th cumulative update release for SQL Server 2014 RTM is now available for download at the Microsoft Support site.
To learn more about the release or servicing model, please visit:
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/sqlreleaseservices/cumulative-update-14-for-sql-server-2014-rtm/
'This month my friend Michael J Swart(b/t) would like us to talk about the new 2016 version of SQL Server. The feature I want to talk about has been around for a bit. Not because it’s not part of SQL 2016 but because it’s part of SQL Server Management Studio. SSMS is no longer tied directly to the rest of SQL Server and the 2016 version has been available for a little while now.'...
https://sqlstudies.com/2016/06/14/comparing-two-query-plans/
'Quite often when working testing different performance measures from the Database Health Reports to testing Resource Governor configuration I end up in a situation where I need to emulate a high CPU load on my test SQL Server. In this case it is usually my desktop or a Hyper-V virtual machine, where I want to see how things will work if I had a nearly 100% CPU load. In the real world you would just have to get millions of users to visit your website that has a SQL Server backend, that its not that easy in my development / test lab.'...
http://stevestedman.com/2013/06/query-to-simulate-cpu-load/
'What? You didn't know you could pull information about file growths from the default trace AND extended events?'...
http://nebraskasql.blogspot.de/2016/06/finding-file-growths-with-extended.html
'ENTER DIRECT SEEDING
This isn’t in the GUI (yet?), so don’t open it up and expect magic mushrooms and smiley-face pills to pour out at you on a rainbow. If you want to use Direct Seeding, you’ll have to script things. But it’s pretty easy! If I can do it, anyone can.
I’m not going to go through setting up a Domain Controller or Clustering or installing SQL here. I assume you’re already lonely enough to know how to do all that.
The script itself is simple, though. I’m going to create my Availability Group for my three lovingly named test databases, and add a listener. The important part to notice is SEEDING_MODE = AUTOMATIC. This will create an Availability Group called SQLAG01, with one synchronous, and one asynchronous Replica.'...
https://www.brentozar.com/archive/2016/06/sql-server-2016-availability-groups-direct-seeding/
'In Windows Server 2012 R2 and previous versions, a cluster could only be created between member nodes joined to the same domain. Windows Server 2016 breaks down these barriers and introduces the ability to create a Failover Cluster without Active Directory dependencies. Failover Clusters can now therefore be created in the following configurations:
-
Single-domain Clusters: Clusters with all nodes joined to the same domain
-
Multi-domain Clusters: Clusters with nodes which are members of different domains
-
Workgroup Clusters: Clusters with nodes which are member servers / workgroup (not domain joined)'...
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/clustering/2015/08/17/workgroup-and-multi-domain-clusters-in-windows-server-2016/
In case of SQL Server...the Workgroup Cluster (without domain) is supported by SQL Server Always On 2016...
http://www.sqlpassion.at/archive/2016/01/11/how-to-create-a-sql-server-availability-group-without-an-active-directory-domain/
'These Hands-on videos are intended to provide SQL Server DBAs, developers and architects with useful information on how to tune Microsoft SQL Server. The clips are demo-heavy, being the result of practical performance tuning for real world customer issues. The goal is to empower customers to fully realize the Performance potential of Microsoft SQL Server without increasing the total cost of ownership (TCO).
This video series is produced by SQL Consulting GmbH, specialized in Microsoft SQL Server Performance Monitoring, Tuning and Troubleshooting. They offer consulting and training, furthermore produce SQL Server Hands-on videos and develop scripts and tools for monitoring and testing SQL Server – Learn more on www.sqlworkshops.com'...
https://channel9.msdn.com/Series/SQL-Workshops?wt.mc_id=DX_59339