The //build Tour If you build software using Visual Studio or code against the Microsoft stack, you don't want to miss the //build traveling road show. The Microsoft //build tours bring the Build conference experience to you for in-depth, usable knowledge about Windows 10 and much more. There's coding sessions and lots of new product demos. You'll also get facetime with Microsoft Technical Experts to ask those tough questions, partner showcases, and opportunities to connect with your fellow peers. Register today, it's a FREE event. Two dates are just around the corner: On Wednesday, … [Read more...]
DBTA – Cool Features of SQL Server 2014: Improved Cardinality Estimates
May 14, 2015 by Leave a Comment
With all the cheerleading and the steady drumbeat of new features being released to Azure, it's easy to lose track of the many cool and valuable new features released in the on-premises version of SQL Server. One of the crown jewels of SQL Server, the cardinality estimator (CE), underwent a large redesign for SQL Server 2014 to improve performance. Cardinality estimates are an extremely important part of query processing. In a nutshell, cardinality estimates are what the relation engine predicts for the number of rows affected by a given operation, including intermediate row sets like those … [Read more...]
ICYMI: Parameter Sniffing, Friends with Partition Benefits, and SELECT INTO Parallelism – SQL Server Performance
April 6, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Great topics for further reading about tuning SQL Server performance: Exploring SQL Server 2014 SELECT INTO Parallelism Joe Sack (b | t) provides us with a peak into the performance improvements and new behaviors of SQL Server 2014 in the way it can now parallelize large SELECT INTO operations. Parameter Sniffing, Embedding, and the RECOMPILE Options Parameter sniffing is a term used to describe the processes by which SQL Server attempts to reuse execution plans where certain parameters might frequently change. If you’re only familiar in passing with the term, it probably has … [Read more...]
StretchDB, a Cool New Feature in vNext SQL Server
April 6, 2015 by Leave a Comment
When it comes to cloud-based database management, there are really only two players: Amazon, the value leader, and Microsoft, the innovation leader. Amazon has carved out a niche as the value leader in cloud-based database management, supporting not only its own implementations of various database platforms such as MySQL and Hadoop, but also supporting premier commercial DBMSs such as Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle. Meanwhile, Microsoft has, in my mind, carved out a very strong niche as the innovation leader by offering powerful technologies to integrate on-premises databases with various … [Read more...]
ICYMI: Parameter Sniffing, Friends with Partition Benefits, and SELECT INTO Parallelism – SQL Server Performance
April 6, 2015 by 2 Comments
Great topics for further reading about tuning SQL Server performance: Exploring SQL Server 2014 SELECT INTO Parallelism Joe Sack (b | t) provides us with a peak into the performance improvements and new behaviors of SQL Server 2014 in the way it can now parallelize large SELECT INTO operations. Parameter Sniffing, Embedding, and the RECOMPILE Options Parameter sniffing is a term used to describe the processes by which SQL Server attempts to reuse execution plans where certain parameters might frequently change. If you’re only familiar in passing with the term, it probably has … [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 … [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...]
