Tomorrow: Learn about SQL Server on Vmware

SQL Server Running on Vmware. A Common Scenario. I have the honor of presenting a webinar, tomorrow, on Thursday, October 12th, 2017 2:00 pm - 3 pm EDT, with Mr. Charles Kim. We'll be talking about SQL Server running on Vmware, with me taking the SQL Server part and Charles taking the Vmware part. Charles is the Founder of Viscosity North America and his accolades are many and manifold: Oracle ACE Director, Oracle Certified DBA, a Certified RAC Expert, Certified Exadata Implementation Specialist, VMware vExpert, and a VMware Certified Professional. Charles specializes in RAC, Exadata, … [Read more...]

Get All of the Freebies for “End-to-End Troubleshooting Checklist for Microsoft SQL Server”

The Presentation: Slides, TSQL-Scripts, and Video One of my most enduring and popular presentations is called End-to-End Troubleshooting Checklist for Microsoft SQL Server". In this presentation, I take you through my six-step checklist from detection of a performance issue on SQL Server through identification of the root cause to remediation and finally post-mortem steps to ensure the problem is prevented (or at least detected immediately) in the future. Over the years, I've had many inquiries about the slides, T-SQL scripts, and additional troubleshooting information. I'm happy to … [Read more...]

My Best Blog Posts from 2015

ALWAYS LEARNINGAbout mid-way into August of 2015, I learned some important new factors in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) that caused me to make some big changes to the way in which I blogged. Namely – simply reposting a slight variant of a given blog post could hurt your overall SEO rankings for any of the given posts. Now you might be saying to me “Kevin, those aren’t new factors. They’ve been around for a long time, you idgit”. And I would say in response “Ok then. But I had other things on my mind”. (Of course, if you have other recommendations for improving one’s blog … [Read more...]

My Best Blog Posts from 2015

ALWAYS LEARNING About mid-way into August of 2015, I learned some important new factors in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) that caused me to make some big changes to the way in which I blogged. Namely - simply reposting a slight variant of a given blog post could hurt your overall SEO rankings for any of the given posts. Now you might be saying to me "Kevin, those aren't new factors. They've been around for a long time, you idgit". And I would say in response "Ok then. But I had other things on my mind". (Of course, if you have other recommendations for improving one's blog performance, … [Read more...]

SQLVacation Slides and Scripts

First came the in-person roadtrip. Two weeks riding the highways from Nashville, TN to Chicago, IL to St. Louis, MO and back. One thousand four hundred miles in a minivan with my wife and four daughters. Eight PASS user groups. Twelve presentations.  Over three hundred attendees.  Two hundred t-shirts.  Eight winners of a license for Plan Explorer PRO.  And through it all ... ONE TOILET. SQLVacation, Resources I've gotten lots of requests for the slide decks, the scripts, inquiries about the #SQLVacation contest running through July 31st, and other things to follow-up … [Read more...]

#SQLVacation Finale in the Music City – Nashville, TN

  All good things must come to an end and, after logging almost 1400 miles on the road, the #SQLVacation road trip returns to its home city - Nashville, TN, the "Music City". Eight SQL Server users groups, eight matching blog posts, two hundred t-shirts, and many hundreds of attendees later, it's time to get back home. This is how Kevin feels when getting out of the car after hours of driving with the Horde. Only there's one last catch for this Clark Griswold of an everyman. I have one last session to deliver, Top 10 Things Every SQL Developer Needs to Know, here at the … [Read more...]

#SQLVacation Postcard from Evansville, Indiana

Our long #SQLVacation is nearly at an end because our stop in Evansville, IN is our last roadtrip location for the family and the penultimate (i.e., second to last) technical session of the journey. It's a bittersweet, fersher. Evansville is such a beautiful place that it was name La Belle Riviere ("The Beautiful River") by the early French trappers who were the first Europeans to explore the river valley. Today, the city is the commercial and cultural hub of the "entire tri-state area!". (I can't help but say that in the voice of Dr. Doofenshmirtz from the TV show Phineas and … [Read more...]

#SQLVacation Postcard from Downers Grove, IL

I've been to Chicagoland many times over the years. During the 1990's, when I worked for Deloitte, I occasionally traveled to the practice office in downtown Chicago or to the tax practice in Deerfield. In the later 1990's and early 2000's (a.k.a. "the aughts"), I frequently traveled to the original offices for PASS on Michigan Avenue. Later on during the aughts through 2012, I often traveled to the Quest Software offices in Naperville. So it's with these thoughts in mind that we make the #SQLVacation drive from Indianapolis to the Chicago Suburban SQL Server user group in Downers Grove, … [Read more...]

When you think summer vacation this year, think #SQLVacation!

I've been telling you about the SQLCruise for a long time now. When I attend the SQLCruise, it's usually in January/February. And I still attest that one of the best ways to spend a week of your summer is on the SQLCruise like mi amigo, Aaron Bertrand (b | t) is doing in the Mediterranean next week. But a winter break isn't in the cards for many of us. Time to load up the Wally Wagon! Barring a summer cruise, there are a multitude of great vacations awaiting us. This summer, we at SQL Sentry have decided to do a fun riff on the National Lampoon Vacation movies starring Chevy … [Read more...]

ICYMI: Query Optimization Phases, Observer Overhead, and Secrets of SP_Updatestats – SQL Server Performance

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...]