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
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
After working on this monthly checklist for over a year, I've recently discovered that there isn't anything that we should be doing with our SQL Server databases. Apparently, the platform is completely and absolutely self-maintaining and provides built-in disaster recovery without any effort on your part. Along with all of these features, you won't be … Continue reading April 2013 – Monthly SQL Server Checklist
Wouldn't it be nice if you had a chance to try out the features of SQL Server? Maybe give them a run-through before your managers asks you to make recommendations on whether to upgrade and what the value in doing so will be. For those of us that don't have the time to build out … Continue reading Five Virtual Labs for the SQL Server 2012 DBA
This month, Wayne Sheffield (Blog | @DBAWayne) is running T-SQL Tuesday on PowerShell. T-SQL Tuesday is a monthly blogging event where a number of us in the SQL Server community gets together to blog on a central topic. The topic that was chosen for this month was PowerShell. And more specifically: "Blog about using PowerShell for doing, … Continue reading T-SQL Tuesday – Powershell and Perfmon Results – #TSQL2sDay
From time to time, you might have caught yourself in a conversation similar to the following: Fred: Hey folks, we have a query that isn’t working right anymore? Wilma: I wonder if there’s a problem with the statistics. Maybe they are out of date. Barney: I checked the statistics with STATS_DATE() and they are really … Continue reading STATS_DATE() Doesn’t Indicate The Validity of Statistics
While working on some scripts against SQL Server's default trace, I wanted to develop a sure fire way to find the location of the default trace regardless of the version of SQL Server and without having to tinker with file names. Since there are a few people that read this blog, I figured I'd share the … Continue reading Determining Default Trace Location
Today is the first Monday of 2013. Do you know if your servers are ready to take on the first month of the new year? Have you figured out if you have the hardware and capacity to make it through the next year? You should know this and, as a DBA, you should have a … Continue reading January 2013 – Monthly SQL Server Checklist
It's the first Monday of the December, and it's time to do a monthly checkup. As previously mentioned, the premise of this post is to help DBAs maintain their environments by getting together a monthly checklist and running through it every month. Now, if you were paying attention last month, you would have noticed that … Continue reading December Monthly SQL Server Checklist
A couple weeks back, I drove out to Madison to present at the MADPASS user group. These guys have a great setup for recording and broadcasting their meetings. Unfortunately, my laptop did not cooperate with the event and the broadcast of my session didn’t go so well. To help get the content out there, I’ll … Continue reading MADPASS Follow-Up
Strate SQL 