SQL Server

Celebrity cooking shows are popular around Brent Ozar Unlimited®. We watch Top Chef for the creative cooking as much as the human drama. Contestants on Top Chef face huge challenges – they’re working alone, have a limited set of tools, have a fixed set of ingredients, and operate under ridiculously strict time guidelines. What makes…

Monitoring SSD Performance

Last Updated February 13, 2017

SQL Server, Storage

Everyone wants to make sure they’re getting the best performance out of their solid state storage. If you’re like a lot of people, you want to make sure you’re getting what you paid for, but how do you know for sure that the drive is performing well? Watch that Average The first way to monitor…

sp_Blitz® v22: Output Results to a Table, Better Comments, and an App

Last Updated June 7, 2015

Our free server troubleshooting tool, sp_Blitz®, just learned some new tricks. If you call it like this: EXEC dbo.sp_Blitz @OutputDatabaseName = ‘DBAtools’, @OutputSchemaName = ‘dbo’, @OutputTableName = ‘BlitzResults’ It will create the table DBAtools.dbo.BlitzResults (if it doesn’t already exist) and insert the results. The table includes columns for the server name and the check date,…

Indexing Wide Keys in SQL Server

Last Updated February 13, 2017

Indexing, SQL Server

Key length matters in SQL Server indexes. It’s a best practice to keep your index keys as narrow as possible, and SQL Server enforces a maximum key length of 900 bytes on most “normal” clustered and nonclustered indexes. But what happens if you want to optimize the lookup of a wide column? You’re not necessarily…

If there's such a thing as Data Science, why not Data Sauce?

3 Steps to Finding Your Secret Sauce

Last Updated May 13, 2014

If there’s such a thing as Data Science, why not Data Sauce? It’s difficult to define why some things are wildly successful in a sea of forgettable products. Some recipes have a mysterious umami that comes from a subtle dash or two of magical sauce. In business and technology there’s an indefinable edge that sets…

Write a Note and Shoot Yourself Today

Last Updated May 2, 2013

SQL Server, Writing and Presenting

When I’m writing a presentation or blog post, I often start here: 2004 Brent It’s a photo of me in my office in Dallas, Texas in 2004. When I look at that picture, I remember everything like it was yesterday. I can talk at length about everything on the bookshelf, on my desk, in my…

The Basics of Database Sharding

Last Updated May 1, 2013

CHECKDB and Corruption, SQL Server

There are many ways to scale out your database; many of these techniques require advanced management and expensive add-ons or editions. Database sharding is a flexible way of scaling out a database. In this presentation, Jeremiah Peschka explains how to scale out using database sharding, covers basic techniques, and shares some of the pitfalls. This…

3 Things You Need to Start Doing to Your Database Server

Last Updated February 13, 2017

Jes Schultz

Taking care of your health is incredibly important (says the marathon runner). Eating right, exercising, and getting plenty of rest help you stay healthy and perform optimally. Does “an apple a day keep the doctor away” apply to cupcake apples? Your database server’s health is important to your company’s health. You need to take regular…

How Much Cache Do You Have?

Last Updated May 8, 2013

Without looking in your wallet, do you know how much cash you have? Most of us know within a few dollars. Now, without looking in your SQL Server, do you know much data is cached in memory? You probably don’t and that’s okay; you shouldn’t know how much data SQL Server is caching in memory.…

Cloud Alternatives to Microsoft SQL Server

Last Updated February 13, 2017

Amazon Web Services (AWS), Cloud Computing, SQL Server

When people say “cloud”, they’re simplifying a lot of different solutions into a single catchphrase. Let’s break out the different options and compare them. 1. SQL Server in Amazon EC2 and Azure VMs Amazon EC2 is a virtualization platform. Amazon buys servers, installs their secret sauce software, and rents you Windows virtual machines by the…

Brent Answers Your Virtualization Questions

Last Updated April 12, 2013

SQL Server, Virtualization

I’m doing a 1-hour open Q&A session on May 8th for the PASS Virtualization Virtual Chapter. Bring your VMware and Hyper-V questions about setup, performance, management, monitoring, or whatever, and I’ll answer ’em. You can even get a head start here – post your questions in the comments below, and I’ll build slides to answer…

3 Things You Need to Stop Doing to Your Database Server

Last Updated April 9, 2013

Jes Schultz

No one knows everything, especially about SQL Server. When you encounter a problem, especially for the first time, you may not know how to solve it. I’ve seen some crazy approaches taken to fix problems – like duct tape on a car. Many times, instead of fixing the root cause of a problem, such as…

sp_Blitz® Version 18 Out: Lots of Bug Fixes

Last Updated March 26, 2014

There’s a new version in town. v18 adds new checks looking for: Backups stored on the same drive letters as user databases (Thanks @AlinSelicean!) Agent jobs that don’t have failure notifications set up (Thanks @Thirster42!) Shows free drive space per drive letter if you pass @CheckServerInfo = 1 in. We don’t consider this a problem…

DBAs vs Devs: ORMs, Caching & Access to Prod

Last Updated January 5, 2019

Developers and database administrators frequently clash on major questions about how to scale application performance. Are they just being stubborn, or is one side really right? Jeremiah and I recently gave a talk on this topic to the AtlantaMDF User group and we wanted to open this debate to the world. Presenting Developers vs DBAs…

Catching SQL Server System Object Changes

Last Updated March 3, 2019

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…

An Introduction to SQL Server IO for Developers (video)

Last Updated March 22, 2013

SQL Server, Videos

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…

Log Shipping FAQ

Last Updated March 18, 2017

Jes Schultz

Log Shipping, SQL Server

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I’ve been working with and talking about SQL Server Log Shipping a lot lately! One way to ship logs… I’ve gotten a lot of great questions about log shipping, so I’ve put together an FAQ. What editions of SQL Server is log shipping available in? 2012 – Enterprise, Business Intelligence, Standard, and Web 2008R2 –…

You don’t have a Big Data problem.

Last Updated March 7, 2013