My Best Blog Posts from 2015

January 31, 2016 by Leave a Comment

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...]

Filed Under: 2016 at 10:32PM, Best Practices, Challenges, Databases, DBA, Developer, DMV, Internals, IO, January 31, PASS, Performance, Presentations, SQL Server, SQLMag, Troubleshooting, Video

My Best Blog Posts from 2015

January 31, 2016 by Leave a Comment

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...]

Filed Under: Challenges, Databases, DBA, IO, PASS, Performance, Presentations, SQL Server, SQLMag, Video Tagged With: , , , , , ,

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...]

Filed Under: Architecture, IO, Performance, SQL Server, SQLMag, Transact-SQL Programming Tagged With: , ,

ICYMI: Troubleshooting CPU, Logging Myths, Missing Indexes, and Query Tuning Examples

March 16, 2015 by 2 Comments

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 well 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 (b | … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Architecture, Coding, IO, Performance, SQL Server, SQLMag, SQLServerPedia Syndication, TCD blog post, Tips & Tricks, Transact-SQL Programming Tagged With: , , ,

ICYMI: the Halloween Problem and DBCC CheckConstraints – SQL Server Performance

March 2, 2015 by 2 Comments

Don't miss these great articles on SQLPerformance.com from the industry’s top experts: A Look At DBCC CHECKCONSTRAINTS and I/O Erin Stellato (b | t) of SQLskills takes a deep look into the SQL Server performance impact, especially I/O, of running DBCC CHECKCONSTRAINTS, including explaining why some check methods may consume a lot more I/O than others. The Halloween Problem, Part 1 of a 4-Part Series Paul White (b| t) provides unique insight into a long-standing data modification issue, the infamous Halloween Problem.  Much has been written over the years about understanding and … [Read more...]

Filed Under: IO, Performance, SQL Server, SQLMag, SQLServerPedia Syndication, TCD blog post, Transact-SQL Programming Tagged With: , ,

ICYMI: Sequences, CPUs, and Trimming T-Logs – SQL Server Performance Topics

February 23, 2015 by 2 Comments

Have you read any of the great articles on SQLPerformance.com? The deep-dive technical info about SQL Server performance issues authored by the SQL Server industry’s top experts. Here are a few great articles from the early days of the website, January 2013:   Generate a set or sequence without loops Aaron Bertrand (b|t) provides detailed performance information about a variety of methods used to generate sets and sequences in this first in a three part series. Selecting a Processor for SQL Server 2012 Glenn Berry (b|t) of SQLskills.com sheds light on the best CPU to select … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Hardware, IO, Performance, SQL Server, SQLMag, SQLServerPedia Syndication, TCD blog post, Transact-SQL Programming Tagged With: , , , ,

Top 10 DBA Mistakes on SQL Server

April 9, 2014 by 1 Comment

  Hear one of my most popular session via streaming media at SQLSentry.TV! Microsoft SQL Server is easier to administrate than any other relational database on the market.  But “easier than everyone else” doesn’t mean it’s easy.  And it doesn’t mean that database administration on SQL Server is problem free.  And since SQL Server is constantly growing from small, home-grown applications, many IT professionals end up encountering issues that others had tackled and solved years ago.  Why not learn from those who first blazed the trails of database administration, so that we don’t make … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Administration, Challenges, Contests, Databases, IO, IT Horror Stories, On-Line Resources, Performance, Presentations, SQL Server, SQLMag, Tips & Tricks, Video

New on DBTA.com: Database Benchmarking Tools, the final article in the database benchmarking series

July 24, 2013 by 2 Comments

In the last several articles on Database Trends & Applications, I've been describing the benefits of reading and analyzing the benchmarking case studies released by the Transaction Processing Council. I've given you from a broad overview of the TPC benchmarks and shown ways that the vendor-published TPC benchmarks can help you save money and how the vendor-published TPC benchmarks must explain in disclaimers how they tweak their workloads. I have described how to run your own benchmarks and explained how to properly prepare your environment for a benchmark test. Pictured (L-R): Scott … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Administration, Architecture, Cool Technologies, Databases, DBTA, Hardware, IO, Opinion, Performance, Professional Development, SQL Server, SQLMag, SQLServerPedia Syndication, Strategies Tagged With: , , , , , ,

SQL Intersection!

March 27, 2013 by 9 Comments

The best emotion to describe how I'm feeling is 'astounded'.  I'm astounded that I'm in such august company to be speaking the SQLIntersection (#iSQL) conference.  Read the blog post from my first SQL Server mentor, Kimberly Tripp, which tells you all about SQLintersection. Check out this list of speakers: Aaron Bertrand, Sr. Consultant, SQL Sentry, Inc. [blog | twitter] Andrew J. Kelly, Mentor, SolidQ [blog | twitter] Bob Ward, Principal Architect Escalation Engineer, Microsoft [blog | twitter] Brent Ozar, Brent Ozar Unlimited [blog | twitter] Conor Cunningham, Principal … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Administration, Challenges, Cool Technologies, Databases, Hardware, IO, Performance, Presentations, SQL Server, SQLMag, SQLServerPedia Syndication Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Learn More About SQL Server IO and Query Tuning in These Webcasts

December 14, 2012 by 6 Comments

I'm doing two new webcasts next week on Wednesday, December 19th, one in the morning and the other after lunch.   SSDs are a Game Changer for SQL Server Storage No, don't let the title mislead you.  This session is not exclusively about SSDs.  But this is my first session on IO and storage tuning that emphasizes SSDs over hard disks.  As Bob Dylan said "Times, they are a'changin'".  This session on Wednesday, December 19th at 11:30 AM EST, sponsored by Astute Networks, takes you through all of the basics of storage and IO tuning, regardless of the underlying storage technology.  I'll … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Administration, Databases, IO, Performance, Presentations, SQL Server, SQLMag, SQLServerPedia Syndication, Transact-SQL Programming, Video Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Next Page »