Production Database Administration

Nines don't matter if users aren't happy

DBA Training Plan 2: Backups (And More Importantly, Restores)

Last Updated August 13, 2019

When I first started out as a SQL Server DBA, I thought things were going well as long as the backup jobs ran successfully. I’d go into SQL Server Agent every now and then, make sure they were still running, and … that was the end of it. I figured if disaster ever struck, I’d…

DBA Training Plan 1: Build a Server Inventory

Last Updated July 19, 2019

Brent Ozar

DBA Training Plan

At your company, walk into the VP of Sales’s office and ask them how many salespeople they have. NO, I mean, don’t actually DO that, because he’s going to ask you why the sales app is so slow. But I mean, imagine if you COULD walk into his office and ask him that. I bet…

Welcome to the DBA Training Plan.

Last Updated July 19, 2019

Brent Ozar

DBA Training Plan

Foreword: 8 years ago, I launched an email series with a 6-Month DBA Training Plan. I sent one email per week, bringing people up to speed on the most important topics that nobody taught ’em along the way. It’s hard to believe it’s been 8 years! This month, I’m revisiting the emails, updating their content,…

Things to Think About When Your Databases Grow Quickly

Last Updated June 22, 2019

Brent Ozar

Production Database Administration

In SQL ConstantCare®, we’re adding a notification for when your data size grows >10% in a single week. When this happens, you want to stop for a second to ask yourself a few questions: Did someone just create a backup table? Folks often do a SELECT INTO to back up an important table right before…

What Happens to DBAs When We Move to the Cloud?

Last Updated June 9, 2019

Brent Ozar

Production Database Administration

I’m finishing up a bit of a summer tour – Techorama Belgium, SQL Saturday Dallas, SQL Saturday South Florida, and this week, SQL Intersection in Orlando – and I’ve gotten the same question from several attendees. It goes something like this: “My company hasn’t moved to the cloud yet, but at every conference session, I…

Things SQL Server Setup Doesn’t Do – And Should

Last Updated May 30, 2019

Brent Ozar

Production Database Administration

During the setup wizard, SQL Server should ask for your email address. It should suggest that you use a distribution list for people on your team, so that someone gets the alerts when you’re out on vacation. Then, it should send these common failure alerts to you rather than making you set them up manually.…

5 Questions to Ask When You Upgrade SQL Server

Last Updated May 29, 2019

Brent Ozar

Production Database Administration

Whether you’re looking to go cutting-edge and hop on SQL Server 2019 as soon as it’s available, or whether you’re just trying to evacuate from SQL Server 2008 to anything that’s going to be supported after this summer, you’re probably doing upgrade projects. This is a good time to ask yourself 5 questions: 1. Do…

What You Said You’re Going to Do About SQL Server 2008

Last Updated March 29, 2019

Brent Ozar

Production Database Administration

Last week, I asked you what you were going to do about SQL Server 2008’s fast-approaching end-of-support date. Countdown clock at SQLServer2008.com Here were some of my favorite responses from blog comments and Twitter. Terry’s been doing a good diligent job, but struggling to keep up: Like Andrew we’ve been working on retiring/migrating off 2008…

What should you do about memory dumps?

Last Updated October 27, 2023

Brent Ozar

Production Database Administration

A SQL Server monitoring tool is warning you that you’re getting memory dumps, and you’re wondering what that means. This isn’t normal: you’re encountering a situation where SQL Server is so freaked out that it’s unable to proceed normally with a query. In order to help you (and really, Microsoft) debug the problem, it’s calling…

[Video] How to Capture Baselines with sp_BlitzFirst

Last Updated October 15, 2019

Brent Ozar

Monitoring, sp_BlitzFirst, Videos

Everybody tells you to capture baselines – but what exactly are you supposed to capture? Which Perfmon counters matter? How do you track which data files are growing, and which ones are slow? How can you track which queries are using the most resources? All you have to do is install the free, open source…

Should you run SSAS/SSIS/SSRS on the SQL Server?

Last Updated February 12, 2019

Brent Ozar

Architecture, Configuration Settings

When you’re building a new SQL Server, you’re going to see a few intriguing checkboxes during setup. It’s all free, right? Check everything! The services are all free, right? You can just check the boxes for Machine Learning Services, R, Python, Data Quality Services, PolyBase, Integration Services, Analysis Services, and Reporting Services – it’s not…

What Queries Does Microsoft’s CEIP Service Run On Your SQL Server?

Last Updated August 9, 2020

Brent Ozar

Monitoring

You’ve seen the CEIP Service on your SQL Server, and you’re wondering what queries it runs and how it sends that information back to Microsoft. I was wondering too, because I started seeing queries running that I didn’t expect: sp_WhoIsActivelyRunningTelemetryQueries (click to see full size) Ah-ha, the telemetry service, also known as SQLCEIP! Starting with…

Free Downloads for Powerful SQL Server Management

Last Updated January 31, 2019

Brent Ozar

Production Database Administration, Videos

You’re responsible for managing and troubleshooting SQL Server. Good news: you’re not alone. The SQL Server community has banded together and built a bunch of cool stuff to help you do your job easier. In a one-hour session today for the PASS DBA Fundamentals online user group (free to join, of course), I showed some off.…

SQL Server Perfmon counters that are still interesting in 2019

Last Updated January 16, 2019

Brent Ozar

Monitoring

“Page Life Expectancy? That belongs in a museum!“ (Cross-posted from the PASS Blog.) Years ago, my first go-to tool for performance tuning was Performance Monitor: it was available everywhere, worked in all versions, and gave me a lot of useful information without paying for a monitoring tool. Since then, I’ve moved on – wait stats…

How to Log Active Queries with sp_BlitzWho

Last Updated November 30, 2018

Brent Ozar

Monitoring

Queries are running when you’re not around. They’re wreaking havoc – maybe they’re filling up your TempDB, or causing blocking, or flushing your buffer pool out. When I wanna see what queries are running, I run sp_BlitzWho: That shows me who’s running the query, what it’s been waiting on over time, memory grants, blocking, and…

How to Troubleshoot Blocking and Deadlocking with Scripts and Tools

Last Updated November 28, 2018

Brent Ozar

Deadlocks, Monitoring, sp_BlitzLock

When you need to find which queries are blocking other queries, your decision comes down to when the blocking happened. Is it happening now, recently, or coming up soon? During a live emergency, start with sp_WhoIsActive. Adam Machanic’s excellent free sp_WhoIsActive replaces Activity Monitor, sp_who, and sp_who2, and it’s way more powerful. The documentation is extensive –…

A Lot of Your SQL Servers Are Unsupported.

Last Updated November 19, 2018

Brent Ozar

Production Database Administration, SQL ConstantCare

I’m almost afraid to look into the SQL ConstantCare® client base to see the answer to this, but let’s put on a pair of rubber gloves and go find out. SQL Server 2016: <1% out of support. I LOVE YOU PEOPLE. However, you’ve had the luxury of time here: SP1 came out in November 2016,…

6 DBA Lessons I Wish Someone Would Have Taught Me Earlier

Last Updated September 12, 2018

Brent Ozar

Production Database Administration

I was talking to a DBA friend of mine, reminiscing about some of the hard lessons we learned early on in our career. The more we talked, the more we realized that there should probably be a one-page cheat-sheet that you’re required to read before you open SQL Server Management Studio. 1. The name of…

How to Check Performance on a New SQL Server

Last Updated July 20, 2018

Brent Ozar

Processes and Practices, Production Database Administration

So you just built a brand new SQL Server, and before you go live, you wanna check to see if it’s going to perform as well as your existing server. The easy way: test your maintenance jobs I’m just asking for the chance to test it, that’s all It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3:…

[Video] What to Do When SQL Server is Slow

Last Updated June 9, 2018

Brent Ozar

Monitoring, Videos

Someone comes running in and asks, “Are you doing something on the SQL Server right now? Can you take a look at it? It seems really slow.” It’s one of the most common complaints we get about our databases – and yet, most of us don’t have a written plan with what steps to take,…