Cloud Computing

Adding Managed Instances to SQL Server Distributed Availability Groups

SQL Server Always On Availability Groups help you build a more highly available database server by spanning your database across two or more SQL Server instances. When the primary goes down, the secondary can take over. You can also scale out reads to the secondary servers. Distributed Availability Groups take this a step further and…
Read More

Azure SQL DB Frequently Asked Questions

Azure SQL DB
20 Comments
I’ve seen your search history. Let’s get you some answers. Is Azure SQL DB PaaS, IaaS, or SaaS? Azure SQL DB is platform-as-a-service (PaaS). Microsoft manages most common database tasks for you, and they act as your DBA. This also means that like a DBA, Microsoft will tell you “no” if you try to implement…
Read More
And it looks bad even in shades.

I Sat Down for an Interview with Forrest Brazeal.

Cloud Computing
6 Comments
Here’s how the interview started: Forrest Brazeal: Brent, you’re a performance specialist who’s worked with massive SQL Server deployments; how does it make you feel when you hear cloud architects saying things like “relational databases don’t scale?” What do you wish they knew? “Time for a smoke break.” Brent Ozar: They’re right. Nothing scales worth a…
Read More

What Do You Do Better Than the Cloud?

Cloud Computing
31 Comments
It sounds like a trick question, but I’m serious. If your company’s management is just now starting to consider the cloud in 2020, your reaction shouldn’t be to cast a shadow on cloud vendors. Instead, think of it as writing your own resume: what the capabilities that you and your team are really proud of?…
Read More

Fixing Performance By Throwing Cloud At It

Cloud Computing
18 Comments
Your databases are hosted in the cloud – either in VMs or in a database-as-a-service – and you’re having a performance emergency that’s lasted for more than a day. Queries are slow, customers are getting frustrated, and you’re just not able to get a fix in quickly. Just ask management if they want to throw…
Read More
Azure SQL DB

Building a SQL Server app? Start with Azure SQL DB.

Azure SQL DB
21 Comments
No no, April Fool’s was yesterday. Hear me out. Azure SQL DB’s feature limitations are a good thing. It doesn’t support everything that SQL Server supports, like CLR, cross-database transactions, database mail, linked servers, and OPENQUERY, but…frankly that feature-limitation page reads like a list of my favorite things to tell developers to avoid. You shouldn’t…
Read More