Posts by Brent Ozar

Brent Ozar

2790 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 Live SQL Server Classes This Month!

Last Updated September 5, 2025

Brent Ozar

Conferences and Classes

This month, I’m teaching two of my classes live, online, completely free! These are the two fundamentals classes that I think everybody should start with, regardless of their experience with SQL Server or Azure SQL DB. I’ll teach you the most important parts about how the database engine works, plus how to use free scripts…

[Video] Office Hours in Icy Strait Point, Alaska

Last Updated August 28, 2025

Brent Ozar

SQL Server

For the last couple of months, I’ve been trying to get my on-location Office Hours episodes filmed with an Insta360 so you can pan the camera around to see the sights. Folks, I’ve finally pulled it off! If you watch the video on YouTube (rather than here on the blog), you can move the camera…

Why Aren’t People Going to Local and Regional In-Person Events Anymore?

Last Updated August 27, 2025

Brent Ozar

Conferences and Classes

Steve Jones recently posted an update about SQL Saturday’s status, and it includes some news we need to talk about: However, this year the number may stagnate or even decline slightly. Running events has become challenging for many communities. Organizers are busy, space is hard to find, and costs are rising…. The biggest challenge in…

SQL Server 2025 RC0 Is Out with New Preview Features Settings

Last Updated August 26, 2025

Brent Ozar

SQL Server 2025

The release of SQL Server 2025 keeps inching closer. Release Candidate 0 is out now, and here are the release notes. If you’re planning on replacing your SQL Server 2016 instances (which go out of support next July) with 2025, now would be a good time to start doing functionality testing. As a reminder, here’s…

SQLBits 2026 is Going Back to Newport, Wales.

Last Updated August 21, 2025

Brent Ozar

SQLBits

SQLBits 2026 will be back at the International Convention Center Wales in Newport on April 22-25, and I’ll be there! Bits was there in 2023, and they’ve got a recap video showing the venue. This location is a little tricky for us Yanks: here’s where it’s at on Google Maps. For international visitors, you’ve got…

That's a pair of baby potbelly pigs, sleeping atop each other on my lap, because they were inseparable.

Helping Software Vendors Talk to DBAs

Last Updated August 7, 2025

Brent Ozar

ISV and SaaS Database Design

Software vendors have a wide variety of clients: Some clients don’t have any IT staff at all, and just outsource everything. The client wants to hand an installation manual to their contractor and say, “Build whatever the software vendor wants.” Some clients have a full time sysadmin or two, and those sysadmins don’t really know…

Save $150 on the Summit with Discount Code BRENT25

Last Updated August 13, 2025

Brent Ozar

#SQLPass

The PASS Data Community Summit is the biggest conference in the Microsoft database industry, and over the last few years, they’ve expanded to cover other databases as well. It’s in Seattle on November 17-21 this year. It costs $2195 for the Weds-Fri general sessions, plus $595 for each pre-conference session on Monday or Tuesday. Register…

[Video] Office Hours: Docked in Miami Beach

Last Updated August 7, 2025

Brent Ozar

Videos

On the last day of my Caribbean cruise, as we pull into port in Miami, let’s go through your top-voted questions from https://pollgab.com/room/brento. Office Hours: Docked in Miami BeachWatch this video on YouTube Here’s what we covered: 00:00 Start 01:45 Sean: How would you approach a task to remove 90% of the data to support…

Make the Comment Section Look Like a Junior DBA’s Search History

Last Updated August 13, 2025

Brent Ozar

Humor

140

Here’s a homework challenge:

AI is Like Outsourcing. #TSQL2sday

Last Updated August 6, 2025

Brent Ozar

When you ask data people how they feel about AI, you get pretty rabid, extreme reactions. People either love it or hate it. Set that aside for a second, and let’s zoom out and think about a bigger picture question. What’s it like to work with someone you know, versus a stranger? Known Person Unknown…

[Video] Office Hours: 15 Answers in 30 Minutes

Last Updated July 21, 2025

Brent Ozar

Videos

The first few questions from this week’s crop at https://pollgab.com/room/brento are very much about what-problem-are-you-trying-to-solve, but they get more complex from there. Office Hours: 15 Answers in 30 MinutesWatch this video on YouTube Here’s what we covered: 00:00 Start 02:49 My Erik is Strong: Do you suggest any steps after an upgrade to SQL Server…

How to Make Leading Wildcard Searches Fast

Last Updated July 27, 2025

Brent Ozar

Computed columns

99.9% of you are never gonna need this. But let’s say you need to run queries with leading (not trailing) wildcards, like this search for all the different national versions of the Encabulator, each of which has different prefixes depending on which government it’s being sold to: Transact-SQL SELECT * FROM dbo.Parts WHERE PartNumber LIKE…

Who’s Hiring in the Microsoft Database Community? August 2025 Edition

Last Updated June 23, 2025

Brent Ozar

Who's Hiring

Is your company hiring for a database position as of August 2025? Do you wanna work with the kinds of people who read this blog? Let’s make a love connection. If your company is hiring, leave a comment. The rules: Your comment must include the job title, and either a link to the full job…

[Video] Office Hours: Interview Horror Stories Edition

Last Updated July 15, 2025

Brent Ozar

Videos

Wanna hear about my worst job interviews? I drove up to 8,000 feet where it’s 30 degrees colder than Las Vegas to bring you these answers to your top-voted questions from https://pollgab.com/room/brento. The audio’s a little odd on here because it was really windy, and I had to use noise reduction in post-production. Office Hours…

Poll Results: Yes, Your DBAs Can Read the Data.

Last Updated July 24, 2025

Brent Ozar

Production Database Administration

Last week, I asked if your database administrators could read all of the data in all databases. The results (which may be different from this post, because I’m writing the post ahead of time and the poll is still open): Yes: 61% Yes, but we trust them not to: 29% Yes, if they bypass tech…

The Query Tuning Trick You Should Use More: Pagination

Last Updated July 15, 2025

Brent Ozar

T-SQL

When I’m tuning queries, the normal answer is to make the query perform better – either via changing the T-SQL, adding hints, or adding indexes so that the data’s better prepared for the query. However, sometimes when I’m looking at the output of sp_BlitzCache, I scroll across to the Average Rows column and double-check that…

[Video] Building a Brand By Sharing Your Work

Last Updated July 15, 2025

Brent Ozar

Professional Development, Videos

You’ve got a good job, and some spare time. You’re thinking about giving back to the community by blogging, presenting, live streaming, or working on Github projects – and you’d like to make your next job search easier. Let’s talk about it. Building a Brand by Sharing Your Work Watch this video on YouTube I…

Poll: Can Your DBAs Read the Data?

Last Updated July 18, 2025

Brent Ozar

Production Database Administration

It’s a simple question: can your database administrators read all of the data in all databases? Yes Yes, but we trust them not to – as in, we’ve got written policies in place, and they know they’re not supposed to go poking around in the payroll tables or the human resources database Yes, if they…

Want Me to Train You & Your Coworkers Privately?

Last Updated July 15, 2025

Brent Ozar

Conferences and Classes

Your company doesn’t want to send you off to conferences or training classes in other cities. You’ve looked around locally, but the local options seem to be irrelevant to your needs. It’s generic stuff like how to pass certification classes, or boot camps to get your first DBA job. Perhaps you’ve even talked to some…

Microsoft Fabric Has a New Service Status Page.

Last Updated July 21, 2025

Brent Ozar

Microsoft Azure

I’ve been pretty vocal here on the blog and on social media about the reliability problems with Microsoft Fabric. Today, I’ve got good news: Microsoft released a new Fabric status page and a known issues page, something that really does take guts given the current reliability situation. The status page still appears to be manually…