Goals, obsessions, and aspirations: becoming an MVP
Several times this week I've been asked about how to become an MVP. A few people have posted on this, but here's my take. I think
Several times this week I've been asked about how to become an MVP. A few people have posted on this, but here's my take. I think
Here’s a question that came up recently: if I’ve upgraded a database from SQL 2000 or before, how can I tell if the data purity
We've finally nailed down the dates for all our Fall classes and conferences around the world. Here's the plan: September 21-25. Kimberly and I will be teaching
This is a question that came up at the Cleveland SQL Server User Group last night. An attendee had a wager with his colleagues about
This is a question that comes up every so often, most recently this morning while teaching a private class (and Kimberly's teaching now): how large
Thanks to the attention of some scurrilous parasites, all comments will now be moderated. And to said parasites, please be aware that there's no point
This week we're in Cleveland teaching on-site for a private client. We came a day early to recover from the journey and see some of
I'm moving away from strictly weekly surveys as they're a little demanding, especially when we're on the road. In this survey I'd like to know
A long time ago, in a blog post far, far away (well before I went offline in July) I kicked off a weekly survey about
It's been a while since I did a Where In The World Are Paul and Kimberly blog post, so here's one from a trip we
A new whitepaper has been published that comprehensively covers the Resource Governor feature of SQL Server 2008, written by fellow MVP Aaron Bertrand and SQL
The August 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
Kimberly and I will be teaching a week-long public Immersion Event in Dublin, September 21-25, in partnership with our good friends at Prodata and Microsoft Ireland.
This isn't a SQL Server blog post so doesn't count against my vacation. Just finished making the Lego model of the original Death Star that
Well – the first half of the year is over and it's been a pretty busy time for Kimberly and I. I only managed to
It's very commonly known that you can use the Script Wizard in Management Studio to script out tables or even an entire database. It's NOT
In this week's survey I'd like to know how often you run consistency checks on your *most critical* production database, regardless of *how* you run
In last week's survey I asked how you manage the size of your database *data* files – see here for the survey. Here are the
This afternoon we headed down to Lake Storey in Galesburg, IL to chill out and get some sun. While the kid's were splashing about in
(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
I came across a question on ServerFault this afternoon that inflamed my desire to be ultra-geeky (it was really already inflamed after teaching backup and
It's lunchtime for my class – time for a blog post! This is an interesting one that crops up every so often (just an hour
A couple of weeks ago while Kimberly was in Mountain View at the same client I'm at, our good friend Richard Campbell sent me email
In this week's survey I'd like to know how you manage the sizes of your database *data* files (remember we've already done log file size
In last week's survey I asked you what you think is the hardest thing when becoming an involuntary DBA – see here for the survey.
There are a couple of issues that I’ve heard of in the last few weeks (one while onsite at a customer) and I think they might bite
On Friday we had a planned spare day in Houston after spending the week onsite with a client. It was the 3-year anniversary of our
We're onsite with a great client down here in (very hot) Houston and Kimberly's lecturing right now so I'm digging around finding some info on problems
This week's survey is all about being a DBA or involuntary DBA – what do you think is the hardest thing when becoming an involuntary
In last week's survey I asked what you think is the most important thing when it comes to performance tuning, if you *had* to choose
The July 2009 edition of TechNet Magazine is available on the web and include a feature article I wrote explaining backups. It's the first in
There's another DBA 'chain-blog' going around, this time started by Tim Ford, and I was tagged by Tom LaRock. The idea is that you're stuck
Just found this excellent blog post (continually updated) that lists a ton of free SQL Server tools for all sorts of purposes. Check it out
Wow. This is a driving stunts video by Ken Block – it's just jaw-dropping what this guy can do flying around a dockyard in a
Chad Miller over on SQLServerCentral has put together a really great collection of scripts that allow you to easily monitor and report on what backups
Part of being a Microsoft Regional Director is getting early access to information and private releases to play with. They also hand out free stuff
Quick blog post to celebrate a bit of a milestone and round out the month of May – no blogging tomorrow. Earlier today I was
This week's survey is going to provide some fun debating topics. I'd like to know what the number 1 thing is that YOU go after
In last week's survey I asked you two things, as a precursor to a whitepaper I'm writing for Microsoft The first question was what is
I’ve just read a very good, very deep, and very interesting blog post by James Rowland-Jones. In the post, James investigates some locking issues using
I've just been posting a few links on Facebook and began reminiscing about my days at Edinburgh University. I spent a lot of my 3rd
The SQLCAT team have published another excellent whitepaper – this time the long-awaited one on the SQL Server 2008 data compression feature. Thirteen people inside
There’s still a widely held misconception that when properly in the FULL or BULK_LOGGED recovery models that full or differential backups can truncate the log.
Saw this on Twitter (anonymous original author): A SQL query walks into a bar. It goes up to two tables and says “Mind if I
Cool news – the pre/post-con workshops and spotlight sessions acceptance emails came out this week and we're both going to be there. We've booked our
This week's survey is inspired by this morning's Kimberly+Paul hot-tub conversation around data-dependent routing vs. network load balancing, which then turned to SLAs. Yes, we
In last week’s survey I asked whether you’re ever tested your disaster recovery plan, and if so, what happened? (See here for the survey). Here
About a year ago, I blogged a cool script that would work out how much of a database has changed since the last full backup
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.