I think this is a fitting blog post for Memorial Day here in the US. Last weekend we had some spare time in Michigan between client visits in Grand Rapids and Houston so we drove over to Muskegon on the east shore of Lake Michigan and visited the Great Lakes Naval Memorial and Museum. It's […]
Paul S. Randal
In Recovery...
Photos of the USS Silversides WWII submarine
Posted on: May 30, 2011 11:23 am
Survey: cores vs. MAXDOP
Posted on: May 26, 2011 10:44 am
I have a few surveys to editorialize but I'd like to kick off another one where you have to run a bit of code and send the results. For this one I'm interested in how you have your system configured for parallelism, given the number of processor cores and NUMA nodes configured. For systems using […]
Benchmarking: Multiple data files on SSDs (plus the latest Fusion-io driver)
Posted on: May 24, 2011 12:25 pm
It’s been a long time since the last blog post on SSD benchmarking – I’ve been busy! I’m starting up my benchmarking activities again and hope to post more frequently. You can see the whole progression of benchmarking posts here. You can see my benchmarking hardware setup here, with the addition of the Fusion-io ioDrive Duo […]
SQL Server Magazine: feature article on advanced BACKUP and RESTORE options
Posted on: May 24, 2011 11:31 am
The June SQL Server Magazine articles are now available on the web and include my latest feature article on Advanced BACKUP and RESTORE Options. Rather than covering how BACKUP and RESTORE work or how to perform common backup/restore operations I decided to show you some of the less commonly used options that can be very […]
TechNet Magazine: May 2011 SQL Q&A column
Posted on: May 24, 2011 11:25 am
The May edition of TechNet Magazine is available on the web now and has the latest installment of my regular SQL Q&A column. This month's topics are: Tempdb space analysis and tracking The four qualities of a good clustered index key Convincing management of the need for DR planning Considering data compression for OLTP workloads Check […]
The most important consulting skill is… effective communication
Posted on: May 20, 2011 8:49 am
I think many people imagine that technical acumen and razor-sharp problem solving skills are the most important skills to be a successful consultant. I would strongly disagree. While these two skills are *absolutely* essential for success, I think they are less important than the ability to effectively communicate with your clients. Effective communication is a […]
Connections conferences in Germany and UK in June
Posted on: May 14, 2011 8:41 am
If you didn’t get a chance to sign up for our Immersion Event in London before it sold out last week, there’s still a way to come learn from Kimberly and I in Europe in June: 8 – 10 June, Karlsruhe, Germany 13 – 15 June, London, UK We’re doing the same sessions and workshop […]
Photos from Munich trip in April
Posted on: May 10, 2011 2:39 pm
Back in April Kimberly and I flew to Munich to present a 2.5 day SQL Server track at the 2011 Microsoft-internal conference for the EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) Premier Field Engineers. We had a great time presenting and after recovering from nasty colds we went wandering about in Munich city center the day before we flew […]
Survey: what’s your comfort level with trace flags in production?
Posted on: May 5, 2011 5:05 pm
After finishing the salary survey I was kicking around ideas for the next one and thought about one of the sessions I presented at SQL Connections in Spring this year and Fall last year about undocumented tips and tricks (just the tip of the iceberg!). In that presentation I covered a bunch of trace flags […]
Salary survey results – are YOU being paid enough?
Posted on: May 4, 2011 8:59 am
(Used with permission from Dilbert.com) Following on from the survey I did about what your company is doing for you and vice-versa (see Job security, loyalty, and employee retention: you need to take control), people asked for a salary survey – so I complied a couple of weeks ago (see here for the survey). […]
