Month: December 2011

My Easy New Year’s Resolutions (Guest Post)

Last Updated February 13, 2017

Hi! I’m your SQL Server. I know you don’t usually listen to me, so I’ve decided to take a drastic step and find you where you spend all your time – Brent’s blog. Seriously, you need to spend less time on the intertubes and more time on the error logs. You’re lucky this post is…

Beep beep, back that thing up. Wait, on second thought...

The 9 Letters That Get DBAs Fired

Last Updated September 2, 2021

Brent Ozar

Architecture, Backup and Recovery

I’m proud to say that I’ve only lost one job in my life. I was a grocery store bagger when the store came under pressure to increase their percentage of minority workers. They laid off all of the Caucasian baggers, but I’m not bitter. I actually loved bagging groceries, and if I hadn’t been laid…

Silent CPU Killers

Last Updated December 21, 2011

Jeremiah Peschka

It’s always important to make sure that SQL Server is running at peak efficiency – nobody wants to waste resources. In the past we’ve concentrated on ways to reduce I/O – either network I/O or disk I/O. The increasing number of cores available in modern CPUs meant that CPU tuning wasn’t as much of a…

sp_Blitz® Updated to v5

Last Updated March 26, 2014

Brent Ozar

SQL Server

Happy holidays! Santa SQL comes bringing tidings of cheer with a new sp_Blitz® – but also doom and gloom about configuration problems in your servers. Here’s some of the recent contributions from readers: John Miner suggested tweaking checkid 48 and 56, the untrusted constraints and keys, to look for is_not_for_replication = 0 too. This filters…

Consulting Lines: SQL Server Needs a Dog

Last Updated February 12, 2017

Brent Ozar

Consulting Lines

SQL Server isn’t lonely, but it needs a dog. In today’s Consulting Lines series post, I’ll share my very favorite consulting line of all – one that makes people laugh while illustrating a point. The Situation: Bob the Button Basher My Blitz script helps me quickly spot SQL Server settings that have been changed from…

Perk Up Your Career with the SQL Server Troubleshooting Checklist

Last Updated December 12, 2011

Kendra Little

When an application is offline or performing so badly that the users are complaining, what do you turn to? When your cellphone says a major incident is ongoing and you can’t get to a computer, where do you send the team at the office? When you’re putting out fires with whatever you can find, how…

Coping with Change Control Video

Last Updated January 11, 2012

Jeremiah Peschka

Managing change is part of a DBA’s job. If you aren’t managing database changes effectively, though, disaster can strike. Jeremiah Peschka has worked with good and bad change management practices and even brought some awful ones under control. In this session, he introduces you to tools, tips, and techniques that will help you effectively handle…

My Thoughts on SQL Server 2012’s Licensing Changes

Last Updated June 21, 2022

Brent Ozar

Licensing

A few weeks ago, Microsoft announced that SQL Server 2012 will no longer be licensed by the CPU socket, and will instead be licensed by the core. You can read more at Microsoft’s recap. After contemplation and discussing the issues with companies, I think of this as a few related announcements. SQL Server is getting…

What the Users Want: Ad Hoc Reporting

Last Updated January 29, 2015

Jeremiah Peschka

SQL Server

Eventually we all run into a situation that makes us cringe: the users want to design their own reports. If this were something as simple as giving users a color picker and some visual layout tools, that would be one thing. Most of the time it’s more complex. Business users know their problem domain very…

For the record, he didn't really trust the Soviets either.

Read-Only View Permissions and Roles in VMware vSphere

Last Updated February 13, 2017

Brent Ozar

SQL Server, Virtualization

When Ronald Reagan said, “Trust, but verify,” he was talking about DBAs working with their VMware sysadmins. "Trust, but verify." Ronald Reagan As a consultant, I get to see a lot of SQL Server implementations – both successes and failures. The successes have one thing in common: transparency. The database administrators, VMware admins, and storage…

SQL Server App Store Reviews

Last Updated September 22, 2019

Brent Ozar

Humor

If SQL Server cost $4.99 in the App Store, what would the reviews look like? Not as good as the Access app – ** By B. Analyst, December 6, 2011 I don’t understand what all the fuss is about. The GUI in this app sucks. It’s hard to build reports, and it’s overpriced. $4.99?!? Save…

SQL Server First Responders Kit Video

Last Updated January 11, 2012

Kendra Little

When your SQL Server is critically injured you need a first responder kit to help you diagnose the problem and apply emergency aid. In this session, Kendra Little introduces you to invaluable tools and techniques for triaging an emergency. If you have one year’s experience with database administration, this half-hour session will set you up…