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TempDB

Learn the Fundamentals of TempDB for Free This Week.

Last Updated September 18, 2022

Every weekday during the month of October, one of the modules from my Fundamentals classes will be absolutely free to watch. But you gotta watch it that day – you snooze, you lose. For this week’s TempDB class, you don’t have hands-on labs, but if you want to follow along with the demos, I’ll be using…

Free TempDB Training Class Next Monday

Last Updated April 19, 2021

You’ve been working with Microsoft SQL Server for a couple of years, and you know a little bit about TempDB. You’ve heard that temp tables and table variables have different performance characteristics than regular user database tables, and you’ve heard that you’re supposed to have multiple data files. You’re wondering what exactly goes on behind…

New Class: Fundamentals of TempDB – Instant Replays Ready Now

Last Updated December 7, 2020

Yesterday, I taught my first Fundamentals of TempDB class, and as always, you can watch the Instant Replays right after class completes. Here’s the abstract: You’ve been working with Microsoft SQL Server for a couple of years, and you know a little bit about TempDB. You’ve heard that temp tables and table variables have different…

[Video] How to Troubleshoot Someone Else’s Temp Table Contents

Last Updated November 12, 2020

Let’s say you need to troubleshoot someone’s query performance, and they’re using temp tables. You want to peek in at their temp table contents from another session while their query is running. SQL Server makes that a little bit challenging. Nic Neufeld showed how to use DBCC PAGE to do this, but today I’m going…

Paul White Explains Temp Table Caching 3 Ways

Last Updated November 9, 2020

Paul White, Debugger of SQL Server Paul White (Blog, @SQL_Kiwi) is a legendary SQL Server blogger who’s written a ton of good material. You should read all of it. You won’t, and I can say that with authority because…I don’t read it all either. It’s too much. But when your job eventually requires you to…

Announcing a New Live Online Class: Fundamentals of TempDB

Last Updated November 30, 2020

Company News, TempDB

You’ve been working with Microsoft SQL Server for a couple of years, and you know a little bit about TempDB. You’ve heard that temp tables and table variables have different performance characteristics than regular user database tables, and you’ve heard that you’re supposed to have multiple data files. You’re wondering what exactly goes on behind…

How to Move TempDB to Another Drive & Folder

Last Updated November 4, 2020

Every time I have to do this, I Google for a script. I might as well write my own and put it here so at least I find myself in the Google results: Transact-SQL SELECT 'ALTER DATABASE tempdb MODIFY FILE (NAME = [' + f.name + '],' + ' FILENAME = ''Z:\MSSQL\DATA\' + f.name +…

Using Trace Flag 2453 to Improve Table Variable Performance

Last Updated March 2, 2018

Execution Plans, SQL Server, TempDB

I recently saw a server with trace flag 2453 configured. I hadn’t come across this trace flag before, so I did a little research. Microsoft says it allows “a table variable to trigger recompile when enough number of rows are changed”. This can lead to a more efficient execution plan. Trace flag 2453 is available…

High Compiles and Multi-Statement Table Valued Functions

Last Updated February 14, 2017

SQL Server, T-SQL, TempDB

Way back in 2016 I wrote about what to do if sp_BlitzFirst warns about high compiles. During GroupBy, Adam Machanic gave a great talk on new features in SQL Server 2016. It reminded me of a blog post I wanted to write about one common culprit of high compiles: Multi-Statement Table Valued Functions. Leaving aside…

Analyzing Temporary Stored Procedures with sp_BlitzCache

Last Updated November 16, 2017

First Responder Kit, sp_BlitzCache, TempDB

All the cool kids Know that when you’re trying to figure out why a stored procedure is slow sometimes, you should use a temporary stored procedure instead of pulling the code out and running it ad hoc. We frequently point people to Erland Sommarskog’s “Slow in the Application, Fast in SSMS“, because it’s an excellent…

Do DDL Triggers in TempDB Survive Restarts?

Last Updated February 13, 2017

SQL Server, TempDB

Of Course Not Nothing survives in tempdb. But this kind of stinks for those of us who don’t want certain things created in there. In my case, when I’m working on Blitz scripts, I have a terrible habit of accidentally re-creating the procs in user databases. Usually whichever I’m building test data in, like Stack…

Indexing Temp Tables

Last Updated February 13, 2017

Execution Plans, Indexing, SQL Server, TempDB

People often don’t give this thought Which is a shame, because I see people sticking fairly large amount of data into temp tables. On the rare occurrence that I do see them indexed, it’s a nonclustered index on a column or two. The optimzer promptly ignores this index while you select 10 columns and join…

Is your SAN’s cache killing tempdb?

Last Updated February 13, 2017

SQL Server, Storage, TempDB

Let’s start with definitions Many SANs have caching built in. What kind of cache is important, because if you’re dealing with non-SSD storage underneath, you could be waiting for a really long time for it to respond. Let’s start with some definitions of the most popular caching mechanisms available for SANs. I’m not going to…

Creating Tables and Stored Procedures in TempDB – Permanently

Last Updated November 4, 2020

Bad Idea Jeans, Humor, Parameter Sniffing, SQL Server, TempDB

No, not #tables – actual tables. Here’s how: USE tempdb; GO /* This one is only available during my session: */ CREATE TABLE #myTempTable (ID INT IDENTITY(1,1), Stuffing VARCHAR(100)); GO /* This one is global, meaning it's available to other sessions: */ CREATE TABLE ##myTempTable (ID INT IDENTITY(1,1), Stuffing VARCHAR(100)); GO /* You can create…

When Shrinking Tempdb Just Won’t Shrink

Last Updated February 13, 2017

SQL Server, TempDB

I am not a proponent of shrinking databases, but sometimes you have to because your momma said to. Sometimes that database is tempdb. It used to be that we were warned against shrinking tempdb because it could cause corruption, so your only recourse was to restart the SQL Server service. Paul Randal let us know…

Cheat Sheet: How to Configure TempDB for Microsoft SQL Server

Last Updated November 4, 2020

SQL Server, TempDB

The short version: configure one volume/drive for TempDB. Divide the total space by 9, and that’s your size number. Create 8 equally sized data files and one log file, each that size. Presto, the drive is full and your TempDB is configured for easy performance. The long version is a little more complicated. If you’re on…

Tracking tempdb growth using Extended Events

Last Updated February 13, 2017

SQL Server, TempDB

Everyone knows tempdb is a wierd [sic] place Brent refers to it as a public toilet. I agree with that sentiment. It will let anyone in to do whatever they want. Recently I was trying to track down what was causing tempdb’s log to grow. I was thinking about using a Trace to do it,…

The case for Query Store in tempdb

Last Updated December 4, 2020

Execution Plans, Query Store (QDS), TempDB

Query Store is so cool Billed as a flight data recorder for SQL Server, the Query Store is a repository of execution plan information, like the plan cache, except a bit more actionable. And it has a GUI. “Try looking into that place where you dare not look! You’ll find me there, staring out at you!”…

Trace Flags 1117, 1118, and Tempdb Configuration

Last Updated November 4, 2020

SQL Server, TempDB

Unevenly sized tempdb files can cause uneven use – and contention on some critical pages SQL Server has a few options for configuring tempdb. It’s great that Microsoft gives some advice for how to battle some kinds of contention that can impact tempdb in KB 2154845, but things can still be a little confusing. Trace…

Temp Tables vs Table Variables vs Memory Optimized Table Variables [Video]

Last Updated February 13, 2017

SQL Server, TempDB

Should you use temp tables or table variables in your code? Join Microsoft Certified Master Kendra Little to learn the pros and cons of each structure, and take a sneak peek at new Memory Optimized Table Variables in SQL Server 2014. This video is a recording of a live webcast, so please excuse any audio…