There are countless sources for information on SQL Server available today. There are books, webcasts, conferences, and blogs. With all of these sources, it is easy to forget that there are white papers available from Microsoft. It is important that we make an effort to read the white papers that are available. The trouble is, … Continue reading 5 SQL Server White Papers Every DBA Should Read
We are down to the last few days before first SQL Saturday in Fargo. It's been some work pulling it all together, but with the help of Ted Krueger (Blog | @Onpnt), Sarah Strate (Blog | @DanceM0m), and Jes Borland (Blog | @grrl_geek), we are almost ready for the weekend. The question I have for you is... … Continue reading Fargo SQL Saturday (#SQLSat175) Schedule Is This Weekend
In last week's post, I talked about the steps required to backup a Azure SQL Database. That post leaves us asking what's the use of having a backup of a database, if you aren't going to restore it somewhere. And more importantly, if you can't restore a database, or don't know how, then the backup … Continue reading Restoring Azure SQL Database to a Local Server
When I first started working with Azure SQL Databases, I wasn't sure what it would take to backup a database. In fact, I wasn't even sure if this concept was appropriate when it came to databases hosted in "the cloud". What I found was that the concept of backing up databases in the Azure cloud … Continue reading Backing Up Azure SQL Database to the Cloud
Each release of SQL Server is chalk full of new features and an assorted amount of bells and whistles. Some of these, like Availability Groups and ColumnStore, are great additions and their introduction includes much fanfare. Among all of those new features, is the occasional little bell which offers us a chance to change how we investigate SQL … Continue reading A Replacement for DBCC IND in SQL Server 2012
After lunch, I led the session "What Are You Waiting For?" at SQL Saturday Chicago #211. It was another well-received session and the attendees definitely learned a lot about the value in wait stat analysis. The only downside, was my snap decision to add an extended event demo to show the connection between looking at wait stats … Continue reading Presentation Materials “What Are You Waiting For?” #SQLSat211
Just got done with my morning session, titled "Discovering the Plan Cache", for SQL Saturday Chicago #211 and wanted to get out my session deck and scripts for people. The session got pretty high marks from the attendees and people seemed to get a lot of good information and humor out of it. Probably the best … Continue reading Presentation Materials “Discovering the Plan Cache” #SQLSat211
A tweet from Ted Krueger (Blog | @Onpnt) this morning... inspired a little creativity...
Like many of us, I have a collection of favorite movies. These include Ghostbusters, Stripes, Serenity, and dozens more. I don't always want to watch specific movies, but when the mood hits, it's great to be able to grab one or another and relax for the the evening. Unfortunately, DVDs while fairly small and compact … Continue reading Entertainment for the Traveling Consultant (UltraViolet Review)
In a previous post, I discussed running SQLIO against multiple files. The purpose in using multiple files is being able to test not just a single volume's capability to deliver data from storage, but to test the storage as a whole. Doing so is important since, what ever application, in my case SQL Server, is running … Continue reading Staggering SQLIO Sessions Across Multiple Volumes
Strate SQL 