Month: August 2011

The Dedicated Admin Connection: Why You Want It, When You Need It, and How To Tell Who’s Using It

Last Updated August 27, 2017

There’s a DAC in SQL Server that you should know and love. Sadly, you probably either haven’t met or you’ve forgotten to turn it on. DAC? What’s That? First, a little disambiguation. The acronym ‘DAC’ is too popular. For the context of this article, our DAC is the ‘Dedicated Admin Connection’. SQL Server implements a…

You’ll be Reunited with an Old Friend in 2012

Last Updated August 26, 2011

Kendra Little

I may love a challenge, but I also like things that are quick and easy. There’s one particular quick and easy feature from SQL Server 2005 which I thought was gone for good. But there are signs it’s going to return. Any guesses what I’m talking about? Nope, it’s not Notification Services. (But that would…

Even Simple Changes Can Cause Trouble: A Tale of TempDb

Last Updated February 13, 2017

Kendra Little

TempDB

I recently presented to the Salem Oregon SQL Server user group. During my visit I heard an interesting story: once upon a time in a land not so far way, a high severity production incident was caused by adding an additional data file to the tempdb database. Multiple Tempdb Data Files: Commonly Recommended Each quadrant of…

Five Ways to Fight Blocking Video

Last Updated February 13, 2017

Kendra Little

Locking, Blocking, and Isolation Levels, SQL Server

What do *you* do when your database has a problem with blocking? Most people reach for the “NOLOCK” hint. Bad news: that may introduce other problems, and it doesn’t truly resolve the root problem in your application code. In this video Kendra Little summarizes five big-picture application changes that fight blocking long term. This 300…

Consulting Line: “What problem are we trying to solve?”

Last Updated February 12, 2017

Brent Ozar

Consulting Lines

The problem with being a Microsoft Certified Master is that people come running up with Master-level questions. I field a lot of very advanced questions completely out of the blue, and I can’t help but raise an eyebrow. Deckard: “After answering forty-two questions from the Voight-Kampff test, what’s the pupil size of a Nexus-6 replicant?”…

CorrugatedIron v0.1.2 – Now with options!

Last Updated August 10, 2011

Jeremiah Peschka

Corrugated Iron, the C# library to working with Riak, isn’t terribly old – OJ and I released the first version two and a half weeks ago. In the mean time, we’ve fixed a few bugs but haven’t pushed out major enhancements. The minor changes that we’ve pushed out, though, have been in direct response to…

The Stages of Growth

Last Updated June 7, 2020

Jeremiah Peschka

SQL Server

Everyone poops and everyone grows. We all reach that growth stage in our own time, but sooner or later we all encounter it. Once you reach a growth stage you will experience some of these common emotions. I can’t believe it’s not scaling! Denial It’s 8:37AM and your developers just barged into your cubicle yelling, “The…

Sample DBA Resumes

Last Updated February 12, 2017

Brent Ozar

Professional Development

Nobody knows who I am. Yes, I know, you think I waltz into restaurants without a reservation, get the best table in the house, and Rick Bayless brings the food out himself. In reality, sooner or later, everybody asks for a resume. (Except Rick Bayless. He just asks for money.) Managers don’t read blogs, so…

Adventures at OSCON

Last Updated August 2, 2011

Jeremiah Peschka

I spent the week of July 25th in the Oregon Convention Center. No, it wasn’t a secret SQL Server event; I was at OSCON. OSCON is the Open Source Convention hosted by O’Reilly (you may know them as the publisher with animals on most of their books). The best part is that I wasn’t just…