Posts by Brent Ozar

Architecture

When you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Unfortunately, a lot of people don’t even know how to use a hammer correctly. You really shouldn’t be doing queues in the database because: They’re a blocking nightmare, constantly locking rows in highly concurrent tables They’re a logging nightmare, constantly pouring data into the transaction…

Meme Week: SQL Server 2012 as of 2022

Last Updated February 19, 2022

Production Database Administration

This week, I’m writing blog posts that can be summed up in one image. Here’s the first one: You could probably stop reading right there, but if you’re not convinced, allow me to elaborate. SQL Server 2012 support ends July 12. No, there’s not a year in that sentence, because it’s this year. No, there’s no…

What Trace Flags Are You Using, and Why?

Last Updated February 16, 2022

Production Database Administration

Most of the time, when you need to change SQL Server’s behavior – like how it handles memory or parallelism – there are easy-to-use switches to get the job done. In SQL Server Management Studio, just right-click on the server’s name, go into Properties, and there are all kinds of things you can mess with.…

[Video] Office Hours: Q&A on the Beach at Sunset

Last Updated February 12, 2022

You posted and voted on questions at https://pollgab.com/room/brento and I answer ’em on the beach. It’s not your eyes: the camera’s hunting for focus a lot in this video. Office Hours: Ask Me Anything at SunsetWatch this video on YouTube Here’s what we covered: 00:00 Introductions 01:01 RoJo: Please comment on the Cloud. Too much…

Fundamentals Week: Your First Official SQL Server Class.

Last Updated March 12, 2022

Company News

You love learning from me. You’ve attended some of my free online streams, read my blog posts, and you use the First Responder Kit. You enjoy my laid-back, humorous approach to sharing what I’ve learned over the years. You love live classes. You’ve tried watching recordings or stepping through demos yourself, but…you just can’t block…

Who’s Hiring in the Database Community? February 2022 Edition

Last Updated March 12, 2022

Who's Hiring

The pandemic is causing so many folks to rethink what they do for a living, where they do it, who they do it for, and in light of yesterday’s salary survey results, how much money they earn doing it. It’s been really fulfilling to hear stories of employers who found candidates here, and candidates who…

[Video] Office Hours at Sunrise (No Really)

Last Updated February 4, 2022

I’ve got a really sensitive lens (Sigma 16mm f/1.4) on my camera, so often when I record these at sunrise, it’s already too bright for you to see the sun. This time, I went down to the beach a little earlier, and through the video, you can see the light really pick up. Office Hours:…

[Video] Office Hours: Ask Me Anything About SQL Server

Last Updated January 31, 2022

You ask questions at https://pollgab.com/room/brento and I answer ’em from the beach in Cabo San Lucas: Office Hours: Ask Me Anything About SQL ServerWatch this video on YouTube Here’s what we covered: 00:00 Introductions 00:27 Paul: What are your thoughts on being a Microsoft MVP? 04:33 Lance: I have a Server running SCCM that gets…

[Video] Office Hours: Ask Me Anything About SQL Server in Cabo

Last Updated January 27, 2022

I watched the sun rise from my balcony in Cabo this morning and answer your questions from https://pollgab.com/room/brento. Office Hours: Ask Me Anything About SQL ServerWatch this video on YouTube Here’s what we covered: 00:00 Introductions 00:42 Student: Hi Brent! Why is full backup sometimes slow and sometimes fast in similar situations? This problem will…

When Should You Use DESC in Indexes?

Last Updated January 25, 2022

Indexing

The short answer is that if your query orders columns by a mix of ascending and descending order, back to back, then the index usually needs to match that same alternating order. Now, for the long answer. When you create indexes, you can either create them in ascending order – which is the default: CREATE INDEX…

[Video] Office Hours: Ask Me Anything About SQL Server

Last Updated January 17, 2022

Let’s pick up right where we left off yesterday. I’ve got more time and champagne, so let’s keep going through your top-voted questions from PollGab.com/room/brento. Office Hours: More Of Your Questions, More ChampagneWatch this video on YouTube Here’s what we covered: 00:00 Introductions 00:39 Wilma: Poor code & tuning issues. Evidence = Database Performance Analyzer…

[Video] Office Hours: Ask Me Anything About SQL Server

Last Updated January 17, 2022

I’m back in San Diego, so let’s sit out on the balcony, enjoy a tasty beverage, and go through your top-voted questions from PollGab.com/room/brento. Office Hours: Ask Me Anything About SQL ServerWatch this video on YouTube Here’s what we covered: 00:00 Carl: Hi Brent, what is your opinion of the graph db support starting in…

Updated First Responder Kit and Consultant Toolkit for January 2022

Last Updated January 8, 2022

First Responder Kit Updates

In this release, sp_Blitz shows some information about clusters and AGs, sp_AllNightLog and sp_DatabaseRestore get some love, and more. Wanna watch me use it? Take the class. To get the new version: Download the updated FirstResponderKit.zip Azure Data Studio users with the First Responder Kit extension: ctrl/command+shift+p, First Responder Kit: Import. PowerShell users: run Install-DbaFirstResponderKit…

Error Handling Quiz Week: Where Are You Handling Errors?

Last Updated January 2, 2022

This week’s series on error handling has been an eye opener for many of us. We’ve laughed. We’ve cried. We’ve screamed in horror. We’ve read the documentation. I don’t blame you. This is a really confusing topic, and for many of us, it’s the first time we’ve actually looked at the mechanics of how transactions,…

Error Handling Quiz Week: Making a Turkey Sandwich with XACT_ABORT

Last Updated January 13, 2022

CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT HOT MESS IN YESTERDAY’S POST?!? I know, right? You thought that by combining try/catch with a transaction, you’d get robust error handling. Instead, you ended up with half the tables populated, and a leftover open transaction. You’d already forgotten Tuesday’s post in which I pointed out that TRY/CATCH doesn’t catch low…

Error Handling Quiz Week: Combining Transactions And TRY/CATCH

Last Updated January 13, 2022

In yesterday’s epic cliffhanger, you might have been shocked to discover that a plain ol’ transaction does not solve our problem – and in fact, it makes things worse. With yesterday’s code, we still got rows inserted into the Parent table, no rows in the Child table, and a nasty surprise that our session will…

Error Handling Quiz Week: Will a Transaction Help?

Last Updated January 12, 2022

Locking, Blocking, and Isolation Levels, T-SQL

In yesterday’s post, we tried a TRY/CATCH, and those of us who actually ran the demo scripts were disappointed. We found that a TRY/CATCH alone doesn’t fix it: we end up getting rows in the Parent table, but no rows in the Child table. It turns out there are some gotchas in Books Online’s summary of…

Error Handling Quiz Week: Tryin’ TRY/CATCH

Last Updated September 2, 2022

Let’s say we have two tables, Parent and Child, and we need to guarantee that they both get populated at once. We’ll write a single stored procedure to do both inserts: DROP TABLE IF EXISTS dbo.Parent; DROP TABLE IF EXISTS dbo.Child; CREATE TABLE dbo.Parent (ID INT IDENTITY(1,1), DateAdded DATETIME2); CREATE TABLE dbo.Child (ID INT IDENTITY(1,1),…

Registration is Open Now for My SQLBits Workshop!

Last Updated January 6, 2022

SQLBits

Registration just opened up for my SQLBits workshop on Mastering Parameter Sniffing! Move fast – due to COVID, they’re spacing out the attendees, so there are even less seats available than usual. My workshops usually sell out quickly, so if you want a seat, you’ll need to hustle in. Here’s the session abstract: You’re a…

[Video] Office Hours in Cabo: Ask Me Anything About SQL Server

Last Updated January 2, 2022