Posts by Brent Ozar

Brent Ozar

2451 posts

https://www.brentozar.com

I make Microsoft SQL Server go faster. I love teaching, travel, cars, and laughing. I'm based out of Las Vegas. He/him.

Free Ebook: SQL Server DBA Training Plan

Last Updated June 24, 2017

Brent Ozar

SQL Server

Our Hierarchy of Database Needs training email plan has been a lot of fun. Thousands of SQL Server professionals have signed up to get an email in their in-box every Wednesday for 6 months. It’s like a part-time college course – the one you should have been given when you first got shuffled into this…

Update on Stack Overflow’s Recovery Strategy with SQL Server 2014

Last Updated February 9, 2017

Brent Ozar

Always On Availability Groups, Stack Overflow

Back in 2009 (wow, seems like only yesterday!), I wrote about designing a recovery strategy for Stack Overflow. Back then, I wrote: With these answers in mind, Stack Overflow’s decisions not to do transaction log backups, offsite log shipping, database mirroring, and so on make good business sense. Us geeks in the crowd may not like it,…

How to Winterize Your Database

Last Updated February 13, 2017

Brent Ozar

CHECKDB and Corruption, SQL Server

In Michigan where I grew up, we pull the boats out of the water at the beginning of the fall. It’s a bit of a sad time, realizing we’re done having fun on the water, and the seasons are about to change. Winterized boats at Goose Island Boatyard – Daniel X. O’Neil To prepare a…

How to Be Employee #3

Last Updated February 12, 2017

Brent Ozar

Company News

These four things are important if you want to join us in Cabo: 1. Demonstrate curiosity about the technology you use. Don’t focus on the specific technology you think we want – follow your dreams. If you use a technology on a daily basis to get your job done, be curious about how it works.…

Introducing Employee #2, @TheDougLane

Last Updated February 12, 2017

Brent Ozar

Company News

This video was my first introduction to Doug Lane (Blog – Twitter): You can see the full video on SQLcruise.com, where Doug had entered a contest for a free cruise a couple of years ago. Of course he was picked as one of the winners, because I was in stitches as soon as I saw…

What Developers Need to Know About SQL Server

Last Updated February 13, 2017

Brent Ozar

Development, SQL Server

What Developers Need to Know About Designing Databases Understand that changing database design at a later date is harder than changing code. Getting it right the first time is important #dellsql — Gail Shaw (@SQLintheWild) October 24, 2013 One of my favorite tips, and I never thought of it that way. Code is agile, and…

“You get free videos! And you get free videos!” #SQLintersection

Last Updated January 17, 2019

Brent Ozar

SQL Server

This week, Jeremiah, Kendra, and I are presenting at SQL Intersection, a conference that also happens at the same place and time as DevIntersection and AngleBrackets. I like Intersections because there’s a bunch of different technologies covered – SQL Server, all kinds of development, SharePoint, cloud, and infrastructure. Kendra Polling the Audience For our pre-con,…

Upcoming User Group Sessions in Chicago and LA

Last Updated October 22, 2013

Brent Ozar

SQL Server

Coming soon to a user group near you, it’s…me. November 13: Chicago .NET User Group Brent’s How to Think Like the Engine: SQL Server Internals for Developers You’re comfortable writing queries to get the data you need, but you’re much less comfortable trying to design the right indexes for your database. In this 90-minute session…

Frequently Asked Questions About TempDB

Last Updated November 4, 2020

Brent Ozar

SQL Server, TempDB

The questions came fast and furious in one of my recent TempDB webcasts, so here’s the ones I wasn’t able to answer during the live session: Q: Virtualized OS, SAN, no dedicated LUNs, most likely scenario with no gotchas, theoretically: dump TempDB with everything else all on one virtual volume, including logs — or split…

Announcing sp_BlitzFirst® for Troubleshooting Slow SQL Servers

Last Updated March 26, 2014

Brent Ozar

SQL Server

When someone tells you the SQL Server is slow, what do you do? Run sp_who looking for queries that might be blocking someone Check the SQL Agent jobs to see if there’s a backup job running Fire up Activity Monitor looking for problems Remote desktop into the server to look at CPU use Open Perfmon…

#SQLPASS #Summit2013 Professor DeWitt Keynote

Last Updated August 11, 2019

Brent Ozar

#SQLPass, In-Memory OLTP (Hekaton), SQL Server

This morning at the PASS Summit, we have the pleasure of listening to Professor David DeWitt talk about Hekaton internals. I’m actually not going to liveblog this – I’m going to sit back and take in the presentation as an attendee because it’s going to be so damn good, and I’m not going to be…

#SQLPASS #Summit2013 Microsoft Keynote Liveblog

Last Updated February 12, 2017

Brent Ozar

#SQLPass, SQL Server

Charlotte, NC – Your intrepid reporter is onsite at the convention center, settling in at the Blogger’s Table. At 8:15AM Eastern time, PASS President Bill Graziano will take the stage, discuss PASS, and then hand things over to Microsoft’s Quentin Clark for product announcements. Some of the things I’m looking for include: Attendance numbers on…

Celebrating Two Years of sp_Blitz® (And a New Version)

Last Updated February 13, 2017

Brent Ozar

#SQLPass, First Responder Kit, SQL Server

Two years ago this week, I took to the stage at the PASS Summit 2011 and unveiled sp_Blitz®, my free health check stored procedure that helps you rapidly take over SQL Servers you’ve never seen before. Some historical highlights include: 117,125 downloads 117 checks (technically much more than that, because we look for variations of…

What Do Developers Need to Know About SQL Server?

Last Updated October 11, 2013

Brent Ozar

SQL Server

The database comes with a manual, but let’s be honest: nobody’s got time for that. DBAs – help me distill the most important concepts and rules down to 140-character chunks. I’ll work with Dell to compile the best tips into a free ebook for developers. SQL Server should come with warning labels, too. There’s three…

Performance Tuning kCura Relativity

Last Updated February 9, 2017

Brent Ozar

kCura Relativity, SQL Server

In the e-discovery business, kCura Relativity is the big gorilla, and I’ve been working with kCura and their clients since 2011. I think it’s one of the most interesting businesses I’ve ever worked with – up there with StackOverflow – and like Stack, they’re really open with their customers. George Nedwick and I staffing the…

Introducing the System Databases: Master, Model, MSDB

Last Updated October 6, 2013

Brent Ozar

SQL Server, Videos

You’ve been working with SQL Server for a couple of years, but you’re not really sure what’s going on in the System Databases folder. What gets stored in Master, Model, and MSDB? What processes use them? In the event of a crash, should you restore them? Brent Ozar will give you an introductory tour in…

We’re Restarting the Chicago .NET User Group

Last Updated October 4, 2013

Brent Ozar

SQL Server

This Wednesday night, come join me at DevMynd. Here’s the topic I’ll be presenting: How StackOverflow Uses (And Doesn’t Use) SQL Server This insanely popular Q&A site serves millions of web pages per day from a Microsoft SQL Server 2012 back end. Believe it or not, the questions and answers come down to just one…

My Favorite Things About Being a DBA

Last Updated October 1, 2013

Brent Ozar

SQL Server

I get to work with everybody. Developers need to push data in and out of the database. End users want to get reports out. Executives want to make better decisions. Vendors need to update code. Anytime something’s happening in the company, I’m one of the first to know. I get to play with new technologies…

What’s the Right Server for Your Business? Tweet Chat Recap

Last Updated September 27, 2013

Brent Ozar

SQL Server

Last week, after blogging about What Server Should You Buy, I partnered with Microsoft and Dell to host a Twitter chat about choosing the right server hardware. (Disclaimer: Dell and Microsoft paid me for my time.) Some of the interesting questions and answers included: For Dell: When are you going to have Intel Xeon E5-2600…

Why Index Fragmentation Doesn’t Matter [Video]

Last Updated February 13, 2017

Brent Ozar

Index Maintenance, SQL Server, Videos

Are you still rebuilding all of your indexes every week – or heaven forbid, every night – and still having performance problems? Odds are, you’re not actually making things better – you’re making them worse! I explain why in this video: For more, read my post: Stop Worrying About Index Fragmentation.