Skip to main content

SQL Server - Change the column size without needing a DROP / RECREATE

While monitoring a production system, I noticed a lot of "String or binary data would be truncated" exceptions. This is an indication that the string data that would be persisted is larger than the database column allows.

That’s an easy one to fix! So I opened up SQL Server Management Studio, right click on the table that was causing the problem and choose Design from the context menu.

I altered the column size and hit Save. However this resulted in the following message:

SQL Server Management Studio tries to handle the resize operation by executing a ‘DROP’ and re‘CREATE’ of the table. As this would result in a loss of all the data, the operation is prevented.

But I’m making an existing column larger. I would except that this is a safe operation that can be executed without any risk of data loss?

Instead of using the designer I switched to a small SQL snippet:

Remark: Don’t forget to include the ‘NOT NULL’  modifier otherwise you end up with a NULLABLE column.

Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Azure DevOps/ GitHub emoji

I’m really bad at remembering emoji’s. So here is cheat sheet with all emoji’s that can be used in tools that support the github emoji markdown markup: All credits go to rcaviers who created this list.
Read more

Kubernetes–Limit your environmental impact

Reducing the carbon footprint and CO2 emission of our (cloud) workloads, is a responsibility of all of us. If you are running a Kubernetes cluster, have a look at Kube-Green . kube-green is a simple Kubernetes operator that automatically shuts down (some of) your pods when you don't need them. A single pod produces about 11 Kg CO2eq per year( here the calculation). Reason enough to give it a try! Installing kube-green in your cluster The easiest way to install the operator in your cluster is through kubectl. We first need to install a cert-manager: kubectl apply -f https://github.com/cert-manager/cert-manager/releases/download/v1.14.5/cert-manager.yaml Remark: Wait a minute before you continue as it can take some time before the cert-manager is up & running inside your cluster. Now we can install the kube-green operator: kubectl apply -f https://github.com/kube-green/kube-green/releases/latest/download/kube-green.yaml Now in the namespace where we want t
Read more

DevToys–A swiss army knife for developers

As a developer there are a lot of small tasks you need to do as part of your coding, debugging and testing activities.  DevToys is an offline windows app that tries to help you with these tasks. Instead of using different websites you get a fully offline experience offering help for a large list of tasks. Many tools are available. Here is the current list: Converters JSON <> YAML Timestamp Number Base Cron Parser Encoders / Decoders HTML URL Base64 Text & Image GZip JWT Decoder Formatters JSON SQL XML Generators Hash (MD5, SHA1, SHA256, SHA512) UUID 1 and 4 Lorem Ipsum Checksum Text Escape / Unescape Inspector & Case Converter Regex Tester Text Comparer XML Validator Markdown Preview Graphic Color B
Read more