SQL Server - Truncate tables in a SQL Server database

Problem As a DBA I have found many occasions in testing of various SQL Server deployments and scripts where I need to load a database with data from a lower environment or where I need to alter a table that might already have data in it in such a way that I need to first eliminate the data before I can proceed. Depending on the foreign key constraints in place, clearing old data can be a tedious process. Solution When I don't care about existing...

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Change the COLLATION of a SQL Server Column

Problem You've installed SQL Server with all the defaults, created your database and schema then loaded a bunch of data into your database. Now you realize that some or all of the columns in your database needed to have the COLLATION set to be case sensitive. This tip will take you through the steps required to change the column COLLATION of your tables from SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS to SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CS_AS. Solution Table Setup Let's first setup a couple of tables in order to walkthrough these steps required to update the column...

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