First Responder Kit

Yesterday we announced that we’re open sourcing our free SQL Server scripts, and one of those is sp_BlitzFirst. I originally named it that because it had a funny magic-8-ball type feature: if you pass in a question as a parameter, it gives you an answer like “Outlook not so good, Access even worse.” Cute, but now…

sp_Blitz v51: @IgnorePrioritiesAbove = 50 gets you a daily briefing

Last Updated November 16, 2017

sp_Blitz

You have a monitoring tool, but you’ve set up an email rule to dump all the alerts into a folder. You’re not particularly proud of that, but it is what it is. You’re just tired of the spam. Group query in the registered servers list But when you get in in the morning, you want…

Announcing sp_BlitzIndex® v3.0, sp_Blitz® v48, More

Last Updated February 13, 2017

Lots of fun stuff out this week: sp_BlitzIndex® v3.0 adds prioritized, streamlined results. We see so many index design disasters, and we know you have a limited amount of time. Doug Lane put a ton of work into focusing the output on the most important issues, things that are easy-to-fix and will have an immediate performance improvement, and…

Using sp_BlitzCache™ Advanced Features

Last Updated June 6, 2018

Jeremiah Peschka

sp_BlitzCache

sp_BlitzCache is a fantastic tool for finding the worst queries in your SQL Server. Did you know that it has a number of advanced options available to you? These options can help you dig into your worst queries, slice and dice the data, and get back exactly what you need, without wading through hundreds of results.…

Why You Shouldn’t Use SQL Server’s Activity Monitor

Last Updated January 18, 2019

sp_BlitzFirst, SQL Server

I love free tools. I also love analyzing SQL Server’s wait statistics. But I’m not a fan of Activity Monitor, a free tool in SQL Server Management studio, which helps you look at wait stats. Activity Monitor just doesn’t give you the whole truth. I fired up a workload with HammerDB against a test SQL Server 2014 instance.…

New sp_Blitz® v35 Checks for Unsupported and Dangerous SQL Server Builds

Last Updated February 13, 2017

News broke recently of a dangerous data loss bug in SQL Server 2012 and 2014, and Aaron Bertrand explained which patch levels are affected. It’s kinda tricky, and I’m afraid most people aren’t even going to know about the bug – let alone whether or not they’re on a bad version. I added build number checking into…

Introducing sp_BlitzCache®

Last Updated April 1, 2020

Jeremiah Peschka

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®.…

Celebrating Two Years of sp_Blitz® (And a New Version)

Last Updated February 13, 2017

#SQLPass, First Responder Kit, SQL Server

Two years ago this week, I took to the stage at the PASS Summit 2011 and unveiled sp_Blitz®, my free health check stored procedure that helps you rapidly take over SQL Servers you’ve never seen before. Some historical highlights include: 117,125 downloads 117 checks (technically much more than that, because we look for variations of…

How to Find ‘Secret Columns’ in Nonclustered Indexes

Last Updated November 16, 2017

Indexing, sp_BlitzIndex

sp_BlitzIndex® just can’t keep a secret. That’s a feature, not a bug. I wrote sp_BlitzIndex® specifically so that it would rat out some things that SQL Server is doing behind the scenes to secretly help you out– because it’s really better if you know about it. What are secret columns? SQL Server needs a unique…

sp_BlitzIndex® Holiday Week Edition

Last Updated February 13, 2017

Only one thing could have dragged me away from the soft glow of the electric leg lamp glowing in the window… sp_BlitzIndex® It’s one of those weeks when things get nice and slow. Your business users and managers are all out of the office due to holidays. Your inbox is blissfully quiet. You get a…

Instant Index Insight: How to Use sp_BlitzIndex® (video)

Last Updated February 13, 2017