Survey: do you use database snapshots?
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
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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
In this week's survey I've got four mini-surveys for you, all to do with in-depth performance analysis. I'd like to know whether you've ever used
I came across an excellent blog post on twitter today: 10 ways you know you’re with smart people. Go read it. If the top-10 describes you then you
A few weeks ago I kicked off a survey about disaster recovery testing and how the plan copes with human factors. You can see the original
The March 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 follows on from the survey results I just blogged about, and is particularly apt given we're here in Dallas this week teaching our
About a month ago I kicked off a survey asking what you look for when first analyzing a plan for a poorly performing query. You
The Immersion Event on Internals and Performance in London, UK from 20-24 June, 2011 is now open for public registration! It’s been open to SQLskills Insiders
I just about beat my fists against my laptop this afternoon while updating a couple of demo scripts for our Performance class in Dallas this
The recent earthquake in New Zealand and this morning's devastating earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Japan set off a lot of discussion on twitter about
(Check out my online training courses: SQL Server: Detecting and Correcting Database Corruption and SQL Server: Advanced Corruption Recovery Techniques. We can also help you with disaster recovery.) Yesterday on
A few weeks ago I kicked off a survey about tempdb configuration – see here for the survey. I received results for more than 600
From my alter-ego – the other half of my degree is in electronics – I usually blog this stuff on my separate electronics blog but this is so
A few weeks ago Kimberly did a blog post survey about which city in the US you'd like to see us come to with our
It's been a while since I blogged about hobby stuff so I thought I'd share a few photos of recent Lego models I've made –
There was an interesting discussion on Twitter this morning (started by my good friend Erin Stellato (blog|twitter)) about in-place updates for index records where the
Back at the end of January I kicked off a survey about the relationship between your DBA and dev teams. See here for the survey.
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