PREAMBLE If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know that I travel and speak quite a lot. A frequent question I'm asked at these events is "I want to start blogging, but don't know where to start. What do you recommend?" This is a such a common and natural question as to be almost existential at it's root. In most every context where we move from the known to the unknown, from taking that first international trip to learning how to swim, we might first begin by saying "I'm uncertain. Where do I start?" Success in any of these situations can be distilled down to a single word - … [Read more...]
Archives for March 2015
ICYMI: Partitioning Advice, Purging Data Bloat, and an example of TVF Misbehavior – SQL Server Performance
March 30, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Here are some oldies, but goodies that I recommend you read: Two Partitioning Peculiarities and Aggregates and Partitioning Most of us know that partitions are one of the best ways to scale very large databases or very large IO workloads. However, there are risks, two of which are explored in detail by internals master Paul White (b | t). The Price of Not Purging Holding on to data long after its useful lifespan contributes to bloat and added preventative maintenance headaches. Read this informative post from Erin Stellato (b | t), of SQLSkills.com, where you’ll find a lot of … [Read more...]
Advice to New Tech Bloggers
March 30, 2015 by Leave a Comment
If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know that I travel and speak quite a lot. (Bizarre fact - I've been blogging since 2004 when blogging was a new thing). A frequent question I'm asked at these events and afterwards in email is "I want to start blogging, but don't know where to start. What do you recommend?" This is a such a common and natural question as to be almost existential at it's root. In most every context where we move from the known to the unknown, from taking that first international trip to learning how to swim to changing jobs, we might first begin by saying "I'm … [Read more...]
ICYMI: Partitioning Advice, Purging Data Bloat, and an example of TVF Misbehavior – SQL Server Performance
March 30, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Here are some oldies, but goodies that I recommend you read: Two Partitioning Peculiarities and Aggregates and Partitioning Most of us know that partitions are one of the best ways to scale very large databases or very large IO workloads. However, there are risks, two of which are explored in detail by internals master Paul White (b | t). The Price of Not Purging Holding on to data long after its useful lifespan contributes to bloat and added preventative maintenance headaches. Read this informative post from Erin Stellato (b | t), of SQLSkills.com, where you’ll find a lot of useful … [Read more...]
ICYMI: Query Optimization Phases, Observer Overhead, and Secrets of SP_Updatestats – SQL Server Performance
March 23, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Do you do a bit of query tuning? Then check out this treasure trove of performance tuning advice! Optimization Phases and Missed Opportunities and Working Around Missed Optimizations Paul White (b | t) writes two fascinating blog posts that go hand-in-hand concerning query optimization. He goes into some deep details about how the query optimizer works, comparing various versions of SQL Server, and shows you several useful ways to assess query performance. Plus, there’s one handy trace flag too! Observer Overhead and Wait Type Symptoms Joe Sack (b | t) does a deep dive on … [Read more...]
ICYMI: Query Optimization Phases, Observer Overhead, and Secrets of SP_Updatestats – SQL Server Performance
March 23, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Do you do a bit of query tuning? Then check out this treasure trove of performance tuning advice! Optimization Phases and Missed Opportunities and Working Around Missed Optimizations Paul White (b | t) writes two fascinating blog posts that go hand-in-hand concerning query optimization. He goes into some deep details about how the query optimizer works, comparing various versions of SQL Server, and shows you several useful ways to assess query performance. Plus, there’s one handy trace flag too! Observer Overhead and Wait Type Symptoms Joe Sack (b | t) does a deep dive on … [Read more...]
ICYMI: Troubleshooting CPU, Logging Myths, Missing Indexes, and Query Tuning Examples
March 16, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Great Articles at SQLPerformance.com There are so many good articles from SQLPerformance.com this ICYMI article that it’s hard to know which are best to highlight in the limited space. So, I’ll be arbitrary and simply choose a few of my favorite entries as we look back: Troubleshooting SQL Server CPU Performance Issues This outstanding article from Joe Sack (b | t) of SQLSkills steps you through a methodical and insightful series of DMVs and queries that can pinpoint CPU issues on your SQL Server instances. Don’t just blindly create those “missing” indexes! Aaron Bertrand … [Read more...]
IT Employers Must Adapt to the Looming DBA Shortage
March 12, 2015 by Leave a Comment
In the first column in this three-part series, available here, I described some of the findings contained in an intriguing new survey published by Unisphere Research, a division of Information Today, Inc. (Details here.) In that article, I covered the macroeconomic and general trends that pointed to a looming shortage of DBA talent. In part 2 of the series, I described some of the issues and opportunities these trends offer to current and up-and-coming DBAs. Today, let’s talk about what this trend means from perspective of IT employers. IT ORGANIZATIONS UNDER PRESSURE If you lead a team of … [Read more...]
ICYMI: Troubleshooting Availability Groups and the Schema Switcharoo – SQL Server Performance
March 9, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Aaron Bertrand (b | t) is on a roll this month's SQL Server performance highlights with more great articles from SQLPerformance.com. Troubleshooting AlwaysOn – Sometimes it takes many sets of eyes Aaron Bertrand (b | t) hit some obstacles recently when configuring an Availability Groups lab environment. This post shows how some assistance from the community helped him isolate and solve the issues. Another argument for stored procedures Learn the subtle ways that ad hoc queries can interfere with SQL Server performance by taking up more space in the plan cache than they really … [Read more...]
