Let's say you get your hands on a brand new version of SQL Server that you haven't played with before, and you want to know what system objects have changed - DMVs, DMFs, system stored procs, yadda yadda yadda. Sure, you could read the documentation - but ain't nobody got time for that, and they're probably leaving out the juicy stuff, right? Here's what I do (thanks to improvement suggestions from Kendra):
Developers frequently make a big mistake: they tune out on discussions of storage performance and IO. Don't fall into this trap! Understanding how storage impacts SQL Server performance helps you tune the right parts of your code and focus on what really matters. In this 30 minute video, Microsoft Certified Master Kendra Little demonstrates why developers need to understand the IO impact on writes and reads in SQL Server. She'll show you how simple configuration changes can sometimes save hundreds of hours of developer time.
I've been working with and talking about SQL Server Log Shipping a lot lately!
I've gotten a lot of great questions about log shipping, so I've put together an FAQ.
Let's bust the buzzword bubble. Big Data is a sexy problem to have, so everybody's claiming it. I'm sick of people using this phrase to gloss over their real challenges. You have a Small Server problem. If you haven't bought a new server in the last two years, you're not allowed to complain about the…
Before you join us in Atlanta for our 2-day training class (or if you’re just thinking about it), let’s talk about your environment. In this 30-minute session, we’ll give you some vital statistics to check in your SQL Server before you leave work, and we’ll explain how our upcoming training class will help you improve those metrics.
In the Happy Database movies, SQL Server is benign and friendly, with no scary surprises lurking around the next corner. In these movies:
People work together
No-one but the DBA can make changes to production
People tell us in advance when they want to change something
When query performance degrades, we're notified about it
Third Party vendors only deploy good changes
Deployment scripts always work perfectly
In order to improve your applications and your databases, they will need to change over time. The structure of the database changes, the structure of the tables change, the data in the tables change, the application changes, the queries against the data change. Indexes that once helped performance now just bloat your database and cause extra work for inserts, updates, and deletes.
Aggregate functions are convenient - they solve a business need and they make development easy. Unfortunately, not all business requirements are so easy to solve. Let's look at one example: rolling averages. The Rolling Average A rolling average is a simple concept; an average is computed over a fixed subset of data. Rolling average calculations…
Let's step back and take a look at the big picture. (Today, I'm writing for beginners, so you advanced gurus can go ahead and close the browser now. I'm going to simplify things and leave a lot out in order to get some main points across. Don't well-actually me.)
Microsoft SQL Server databases are stored on disk in two files: a data file and a log file.
Hi. I'm a former developer who's moved into database administration, and here's what I wish somebody would have told me when I got started.
7. SQL functions rarely perform well.
Good developers like to reuse code by putting it into functions, and then calling those functions from multiple places. That's a great practice in the app tier, but it has huge performance drawbacks in the database tier.
When someone brings me a query to tune, I start with a few questions:
How long does it take to run now? I'm looking for a time at first, and later as I progress through tuning, I'll measure it more scientifically with logical reads and CPU cycles.
One of the many best practices for SQL Server's table partitioning feature is to create "extra" empty partitions around your data. This is explained in SQL Server Books Online in the page on altering a Partition Function: Always keep empty partitions at both ends of the partition range to guarantee that the partition split (before…
They are elusive and hard to spot in the wild, but they exist: rare index options that can enhance the performance of your queries. If you have a solid knowledge of index basics and want to add to your collection, this is the session for you! In this 30-minute video, Jes will show you how filtered indexes, compressed indexes, and indexed views work and can improve performance.
There's a secret to learning about SQL Server's table partitioning feature: you need to get your hands on some code and really play with it in a test environment.
In this tutorial, Kendra will walk you through test scripts that set up a sample table partitioning environment. These scripts demonstrate gotchas to look out for and the cool features that can dramatically change your database's performance.
Databases exist to store data and answer questions about that data. The way we ask questions has to change based on the database itself - SQL changes between different RDBMS vendors. Things get even stranger when you venture outside the RDBMS world and start storing your data in Hive. Even though Hive Query Language (HiveQL) looks like SQL, there are some subtle but important differences to querying that first timers will want to keep in mind.
It's finally time-- you've been given the thumbs up to upgrade to SQL Server 2012. You've selected your SQL Server Edition and worked out your licensing agreement. You've sized new hardware in production and sketched out your migration plan. You're ready to install developer edition in the test environment. You grab your installation media and...…
I served with High Availability. I knew High Availability. High Availability was a friend of mine. VMware HA, you're no High Availability.
See, for us database administrators, high availability means protection when:
Even if your SQL Server is the only guest on a host, it still might not be as fast as bare metal. One of the reasons is NUMA, which stands for Not Ur Momma's Architecture. Okay, no, smart reader, you caught me - it actually stands for Non-Uniform Memory Access. In your momma's architecture (Symmetric…
Some parts of our jobs are not glamorous, but necessary. For example, I have to brush Brent’s Bob Dylan wig weekly, to make sure it’s shiny and perfect. Documentation is a task many people roll their eyes at, procrastinate about starting, have a hard time keeping up-to-date, and in general avoid.
Stop avoiding it, and embrace the benefits!
Overwhelmed with problems on your SQL Servers? Maybe it’s time you stopped playing around with bandages and got some Critical Care®. In this 30-minute video, we’ll introduce our Critical Care® process, explain what we look for, and show you how to explain it to your manager. Let’s make your SQL Server faster and more reliable – together.
