Photos: Illinois Railway Museum
Back in May when we were out in Chicago teaching one of our classes we had a spare day so we drove an hour
Menu
Back in May when we were out in Chicago teaching one of our classes we had a spare day so we drove an hour
Cue spooky music… I used to love the X-Files, where one of the catch-phrases was Trust No One. Their other major catch-phrase was The Truth
Here's a survey I've been meaning to run for quite a while – that Kimberly and I are really interested in. For all the databases
This question came up on the #sqlhelp tag on Twitter today, and it's something I'm interested in too: what percentage of SQL Server environments include
There are several reasons why I’ve drastically cut back on the amount of time I spend in the various online SQL Server forums, including: People
A couple of weeks back I kicked off an off-topic survey about which internet browsers and email clients people use. Here are the results:
Three weeks ago I kicked off a survey about using database snapshots – see here – because I don’t really know how much they’re used or
As you may know, I've been teaching the SQL Server portion of the SharePoint MCM since it started. The old database maintenance whitepaper for SharePoint 2007
The Fall conferences are a little earlier this year – October rather than November – and we'll be at both PASS and SQL Connections. We
The July 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
This survey is off-topic and was suggested by Justin Dearing (blog|twitter) and I'm curious about the results too so I agreed to run it. We're
Earlier today I took my Mum and Dad to walk around the beautiful Japanese Garden at the Washington Park Arboretum (part of the University of Washington
This is almost our catch phrase. In every class we teach Kimberly and I always say that the answer to every question about SQL Server
We’ve just finalized our Fall line-up of classes, and we’re very excited to introduce two new classes on development and business intelligence. This means SQLskills.com
This is a performance tuning post that's been on my to-do list for quite a while. Wait stats analysis is a great way of looking
About a month ago I kicked off a survey around regularly rebooting SQL Server (see here). There is much debate about rebooting SQL Server (or
As I was writing a quick SQL Server Magazine blog post on database snapshots while waiting for my coffee to brew, I figured it would
Over the last few months I’ve been blogging occasionally about some pretty deep performance tuning topics, namely latches and spinlocks (see my blog categories Wait
You’re ignorant. About lots of things. Yes, you are. Feel offended? We’re all ignorant about lots and lots of things. Last week I wrote a non-technical
Every so often I get asked how to deal with SPID -2 and once in a blue moon I get asked about SPID -3. Neither
A month ago I kicked off a survey about MAXDOP setting – see here for the survey. I received results for 700 servers around the
We’ve been off-line the last couple of weeks while we’ve been traveling around Europe and now I’ve got a bunch of blog posts to catch
In this survey I'd like to know if you regularly reboot SQL Server. There are two parts to this: a) no or yes with frequency
If I told you about an undocumented mod you could make to your car's brakes to make them more efficient, would you try it? What
(Check out my Pluralsight online training course: SQL Server: Index Fragmentation Internals, Analysis, and Solutions.) Back in April I kicked off a survey where I asked
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
(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
Continuing my series on advanced performance troubleshooting – see these two posts for the scripts I’ll be using and an introduction to the series: Wait
I was searching around in the US Patent Office database this evening to find my patent for consistency checking of a backup without restoring the
Following my survey on company and employee loyalty, job security, and retention, I think it'll be very useful to the community to do a survey
(Used with permission from Dilbert.com) It's an interesting marketplace for DBAs right now. Depending on who you speak to, and what your view into
In this survey I'd like you to run some code and then send me the results (and I'm sure someone will put together a PowerShell
(Check out my Pluralsight online training course: SQL Server: Performance Troubleshooting Using Wait Statistics and my comprehensive library of all wait types and latch classes.) It’s all
I just had to figure out how to do this so I figured a quick blog post is in order to save other people time
(New for 2020: we’ve published a range of SQL Server interview candidate screening assessments with our partner Kandio, so you can avoid hiring an ‘expert’ who
My latest feature article for TechNet Magazine has just been published in the April edition. It focuses on planning an HA/DR strategy within the confines
After a discussion on Twitter this morning, my good friend Steve Jones (blog|twitter) said it would be great to have a survey polling people on
A couple of week ago I kicked off a survey about common causes of performance problems – see here for the survey. Firstly I asked
(In this post I'm not going to name-and-shame, as I'm sure the problems will be fixed in time.) I want to warn you about unthinkingly
[Edit 2014: there’s an additional bug in SQL Server 2012/2014 – see this post for details.] More details are in KB article 919142, which was
With training and consulting from SQLskills, you’ll be able to solve big problems, elevate your team’s capacity, and take control of your data career.