Posts by Jeremiah Peschka

Sizing SQL Server for AWS

Let’s skip the shenanigans and get right down to it – you’re responsible for SQL Server and someone in your company wants to move things into Amazon Web Services (AWS). You’ve got SQL Server setup covered thanks to our helpful SQL Server setup checklist and you’re confident you’ve got hardware under control, but things are…
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Introducing sp_BlitzCache®

Finding the worst queries in SQL Server is easy, right? You just query one of the dm_exec_* DMVs, bring in the SQL text and the execution plan, and then you spend hours looking at execution plans trying to figure out what’s wrong in the query, much less how to fix it. All that’s changing – we’re introducing sp_BlitzCache®.…
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Introduction to Extended Events (video)

SQL Server
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Extended Events were introduced with SQL Server 2008. Extended Events is a replacement for Server Side Traces and so much more – it’s a lightweight way to look at SQL Server performance, events, deadlocks, locking, blocking, and more. In this webcast, Jeremiah Peschka provides a high-level introduction to Extended Events. You’ll learn about how Extended…
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SQL Server 2014 Buffer Pool Extensions

SQL Server
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SQL Server 2014 contains some interesting new features. Although SQL Server Standard Edition is limited to 128GB of memory, teams deploying on Standard Edition have an option to fit more of their working set in low latency storage – SQL Server Buffer Pool Extensions. How SQL Server Normally Deals With Data During SQL Server’s normal…
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SQL Server 2014 Licensing Changes

Licensing
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With the release of SQL Server 2014, we get to learn all kinds of new licensing changes. While I don’t work for Microsoft legal, I do have a PDF reader and a web browser. You can follow along in the SQL Server 2014 Licensing Datasheet… if you dare. Server + CAL Licensing is Still Around It’s…
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Finding Blocked Processes and Deadlocks using SQL Server Extended Events

A lot of folks would have you think that Extended Events need to be complicated and involve copious amounts of XML shredding and throwing things across the office. I’m here to tell you that it doesn’t have to be so bad. Collecting Blocked Process Reports and Deadlocks Using Extended Events When you want to find…
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Reporting in Production: SQL Server (video)

SQL Server
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Everyone wants reports but nobody wants to build out a separate reporting server. What options do you have short of throwing up your hands in defeat? Join Jeremiah to learn about four SQL Server technologies that help with reporting in production. This session is for DBAs and developers looking for a place to get started…
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A terrible execution plan featuring three sort operators.

Dynamic Sorting

SQL Server
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While working on some DMV scripts, I came up with a lazy way to have a user definable sort order in the query that seemed like pure genius. I showed it to the team and they’d never seen anything like it before. The Situation Users like to be in control. They want to define custom…
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Keep it Constrained

Indexing, SQL Server
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SQL Server has this fancy feature called constraints. Database constraints are used to restrict the domain (the range of allowed values) of a given attribute. That’s just a funny way of saying: through a set of carefully crafted rules, we control the shape of our universe. Our Test Table We’re going to be testing with…
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Database Administrators are Plumbers

SQL Server
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It seems a like a stretch. After all, plumbers get called when sinks are running backwards and when toilets and drains are clogged. But, really, the users and developers do the same thing with DBAs that you do with a plumber – when something is broken, we get the call. Unclog Your Database Fast The…
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Filtered Indexes and Dynamic SQL

Indexing, SQL Server
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I’ve been told that an attendee at the PASS Summit pre-conference event asked about using dynamic SQL to get around some of the problems with filtered indexes. I’m not entirely sure what the question was, but it did give me the opportunity to play around with filtered indexes and write some simple demo code to…
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The Road to Employee #3: The Interview

Company News
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What was the interview like for the fine folks who went through it? Talking Points We’re big believers that one of most important things for a consultant is their ability to interact with customers. The type of work we do relies on communicating clearly with our customers, and we wanted to make sure that our…
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