SQL Server

We’re an Amazon Consulting Partner

SQL Server
9 Comments
I’m really excited to share the news that Brent Ozar Unlimited® is now an Amazon Consulting Partner. The Amazon Consulting Partner program is a way for Amazon Web Services to identify consulting firms specializing in helping customers design, build, and deploy solutions in Amazon Web Services. Cloud computing is some seriously cool stuff and we’re…
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#SQLCruise Alaska: Class is In Session!

Meet Our SQL Storytelling Winner

#SQLCruise Alaska: Class is In Session! The Brent Ozar Unlimited® crew sailed on SQLCruise Alaska last week. Brent, Jeremiah, and Kendra each taught a session (or two) on the cruise. There was much talk of transactions, performance killers, and SSDs. There were lessons on backups, PowerShell, and boat drinks. As a sponsor, we got to design…
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SQL Server RDS

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a platform that offers a ton of services ranging from block storage, operating systems, to mail queues, DNS, and caching. When you say “cloud”, a lot of people think of AWS. AWS hosts a variety of businesses, large and small. Unfortunately, you still have to administer and configure your servers.…
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How to Test Your Storage with CrystalDiskMark

SQL Server, Storage
109 Comments
I’ve written about how to test your SAN’s performance with SQLIO, but I’ll be honest with you: that’s the hard way.  It takes knowledge and time, and you only have one of those.  (I’ll be charitable and not tell you which one.) Instead, let’s get seat-of-the-pants numbers for your storage. Go to the CrystalDiskMark download…
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Monday Guest Post: Phony Robbins on Power

Here at Brent Ozar Unlimited®, we’re very open to alternative viewpoints on information technology. We’d like to help broaden your horizons and introduce you to new possibilities for your servers, so we’re introducing a new Monday series – the Celebrity Guest Post. Our first guest is life coach Phony Robbins, an internationally renowned motivational speaker…
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sp_Blitz® Updated to v5

SQL Server
6 Comments
Happy holidays! Santa SQL comes bringing tidings of cheer with a new sp_Blitz® – but also doom and gloom about configuration problems in your servers.  Here’s some of the recent contributions from readers: John Miner suggested tweaking checkid 48 and 56, the untrusted constraints and keys, to look for is_not_for_replication = 0 too.  This filters…
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What the Users Want: Ad Hoc Reporting

SQL Server
10 Comments
Eventually we all run into a situation that makes us cringe: the users want to design their own reports. If this were something as simple as giving users a color picker and some visual layout tools, that would be one thing. Most of the time it’s more complex. Business users know their problem domain very…
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For the record, he didn't really trust the Soviets either.

Read-Only View Permissions and Roles in VMware vSphere

SQL Server, Virtualization
11 Comments
When Ronald Reagan said, “Trust, but verify,” he was talking about DBAs working with their VMware sysadmins. "Trust, but verify." Ronald Reagan As a consultant, I get to see a lot of SQL Server implementations – both successes and failures.  The successes have one thing in common: transparency.  The database administrators, VMware admins, and storage…
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Virtualization and SAN Basics for DBAs Video

SQL Server
4 Comments
These two technologies can make a very big — and very bad — difference in how your SQL Server performs. Wouldn’t it be great if you could get the real, honest lowdown from a virtualization administrator, a SAN administrator, and a DBA? Wouldn’t it be even better if one person had done all three, and…
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What People are Finding with sp_Blitz®

SQL Server
4 Comments
My new sp_Blitz® stored procedure helps you take over SQL Servers, identify risks, and build an inventory of what needs to be fixed.  Here’s the video from our Tech Tuesday Triage webcast series this week when I explained how to use it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUdIe_eLpco In the sp_Blitz® output, I include a link to learn more about…
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