I've blogged a bunch about using the undocumented fn_dblog function I helped write (and I've got a lot more to come :-) but here's one I haven't mentioned on my blog before: fn_dump_dblog (although I have talked about it at SQL Connections last year). Here's a scenario: someone dropped a table and you want to [...]
Paul S. Randal
In Recovery...
Using fn_dblog, fn_dump_dblog, and restoring with STOPBEFOREMARK to an LSN
Posted on: May 17, 2012 3:05 am
Understanding data vs log usage for spills in tempdb
Posted on: May 11, 2012 2:08 am
Earlier this morning I noticed a discussion on the SQL MCM distribution list (that all the original MCM instructors are part of) that was trying to make sense of a huge disparity between tempdb data file usage and log file usage. I explained the answer and thought I'd share it with you all too. The [...]
Survey: most prevalent latch waits (code to run)
Posted on: May 10, 2012 2:26 am
I first started blogging about latches and some of the deeper parts of SQL Server internals last year (see Advanced performance troubleshooting: waits, latches, spinlocks) and now I'd like to pick up that thread (no scheduling pun intended :-)) and blog some more about some of the common latches that could be a performance bottleneck. [...]
Cool free tool to parse and analyze SQLIO results
Posted on: May 2, 2012 2:23 pm
During every one of our Immersion Events, we designate Thursday evening as 'open mic' night where anyone can do a 15-minute presentation on anything they want (to do with SQL Server) to the class. We usually have 4 or 5 people who entertain us with interesting talks, and our recent classes in Chicago were no [...]
SQLskills community mentoring – round 2
Posted on: May 2, 2012 10:15 am
Back in November last year I blogged about Jonathan's idea to mentor someone who's attended one of our classes and how Jonathan, Joe, and I each picked someone to mentor for six months. Our mentees (Steven Ormrod, Luke Jian, and Brad Hoff, respectively) have all said how much they've benefited from the arrangement and we've [...]
Spring cleaning health check special offer in May
Posted on: May 1, 2012 3:26 pm
Spring takes a while to get going in the Pacific Northwest but spring is definitely in the air now that it's May – and spring means spring cleaning! It's been about 18 months since we last ran a special pricing offer so I've decided to offer one through the month of May for new customers: a [...]
Visiting Scotland (part 3)
Posted on: May 1, 2012 12:19 pm
This is part three of my three-part series of posts about what I recommend on a visit to Scotland. I'm writing posts because I get asked a lot and this is easier than repeating myself a bunch of times. You can get part 1 of the series here – dealing with Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Stirling, [...]
