SQL Server

SQLIO Tutorial: How to Test Disk Performance

Last Updated February 13, 2017

Storage is a black box, right? The SAN admins ask how much storage space you need, you tell them, and then they give it to you. They don’t tell you how fast (or slow) it is, they don’t know whether it meets your needs, and they probably don’t know where the bottlenecks are. It’s time…

Steel Cage Blogmatch: How to Configure a SAN

Last Updated February 13, 2017

Brent Ozar

SQL Server, Storage

Jason Massie and Brent Ozar work with SQL Server for a living and write blogs for fun, but that’s where the similarities end. Jason’s a fan of shared storage SANs: putting SQL Server data and logs on the same set of physical hard drives. Brent’s a cheerleader for dedicated configurations where the arrays are separated…

SQL Server 2008’s new Central Management Server

Last Updated March 4, 2018

Brent Ozar

SQL Server

Got more than one DBA? Want to make your life easier? You might want to configure a Central Management Server. This is useful for fast-changing shops where there’s a lot of servers added and removed. At my last company, we had a hard enough time telling everybody when we’d finished adding a new server, or…

SQL Server on a SAN: Dedicated or Shared Drives?

Last Updated January 17, 2019

Brent Ozar

SQL Server, Storage

A reader wrote in and asked: We’re running SQL Server with blades and a NetApp SAN. We have a few hundred databases from 100mb to 200gb. All data, logs, tempdb, etc. are located in the same 30-disk pool. Apparently this was setup using NetApp’s guidelines. NetApp recommendations are to put everything in one aggregate, or…

Recommended Books for SQL Server DBAs and Developers

Last Updated February 14, 2017

Brent Ozar

Book Reviews, SQL Server

Here’s my favorite SQL Server books for 2016-2014: T-SQL Fundamentals – (updated for SQL 2016) – don’t be fooled by this “fundamentals” title, because everybody who writes T-SQL queries needs this book. It’s the manual we should have been given when we started, and everyone’s going to learn something about concurrency, performance, and updates here. T-SQL Querying…

Transparent Data Encryption in SQL Server 2008

Last Updated March 10, 2021

Brent Ozar

SQL Server

I played around with TDE a couple of weeks ago, and I was surprised by how difficult it is to implement. I’d expected to be able to check a box, put in a password, and click OK, but it’s nowhere near that easy. Restoring encrypted databases from one server to another can also give DBAs…

SQL Server Partitioning: Not the Best Practices for Everything

Last Updated February 13, 2017

Brent Ozar

Partitioning, SQL Server

When SQL 2005 was in beta, I clapped my hands and jumped for joy the first time I played with partitioning. I’ve done a lot of data warehouse work, and partitioning lets the DBA break down massive tables into smaller, easy-to-manage chunks. We can put heavily accessed parts of the table onto fast storage, and…

SQL Server 2005 Setup Checklist Part 2: After The Install

Last Updated June 27, 2017

Brent Ozar

SQL Server

I’ve covered what needs to happen before you install SQL Server – now, let’s talk about what to do immediately after the setup finishes. Install not just the service packs, but also the cumulative updates. Starting with SQL Server 2005’s Service Pack 2, Microsoft releases hotfixes in cumulative packs. These updates do more than just…

SQL Server 2005/2008/2012/2014 Setup Checklist

Last Updated May 16, 2018

Brent Ozar Unlimited Team

SQL Server

Ever wonder if you’re missing a step when you set up your SQL Server? Get a checklist to install and configure your SQL Server the right way! We’ve built an easy-to-follow SQL Server Setup Guide for systems administrators, DBAs, and developers that helps you prevent the most common issues we see out in the field. The guide…

What’s the Largest Database You’ve Worked With?

Last Updated January 26, 2018

Brent Ozar

Professional Development, SQL Server

When hiring a production DBA, I start by asking them, “In terms of file size, what’s the largest database you’ve worked with?” In a perfect world, we’d only hire very experienced candidates, people who’ve worked with larger databases than we’re dealing with. In reality, though, we can’t always afford those candidates – if they’re even…

SQL Server Backup Best Practices

Last Updated September 18, 2017

Brent Ozar

Backup and Recovery, SQL Server

I’ve been backing up SQL Servers for almost a decade now, and it’s time to share the lessons I’ve learned. All of this is my own opinion – your mileage may vary – but I’ll try to explain the reasoning behind the choices I make. I won’t address log shipping or snapshots this time around.…

SQL Server Perfmon (Performance Monitor) Best Practices

Last Updated May 5, 2021

Brent Ozar

Monitoring, SQL Server

Database administrators need to know each SQL Server’s weakest link so we know where to focus their hardware budgets and time. On any given server, we need to know what the slowest component is, and where it’ll pay off to invest hours and dollars. This is performance tuning, and the first place to start is…

Goodbye MovableType, hello WordPress

Last Updated March 8, 2021

Brent Ozar

SQL Server

The more sober among you will notice a small change in the look & feel of this here site. I’ve been toying around with WordPress on some of my other sites for a while, and it’s time I took the plunge and changed over BrentOzar.com. For the next couple of weeks, this site will be…

Macbook in the driver’s seat

Last Updated February 11, 2017

Brent Ozar

SQL Server

Macbook in the driver’s seat, originally uploaded by BrentOzar. My coworkers were a little surprised yesterday when I alreay had my Macbook Pro as my primary machine, and my Dell had already been relegated to riding shotgun. The only reason I even still have it on my desk is because I have to get our…

I’m getting a Macbook Pro!

Last Updated April 20, 2019

Brent Ozar

SQL Server

YES! YES! YES! Or as they say in the World Cup, GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL! My boss knows about my lust after the grooviness known as the Apple Macbook Pro, and he just scored me the coolest project. I get to be the pilot guy for supporting Macs internally. I’m way psyched. Now for the wild part –…

End ofa long, hard day

Last Updated February 11, 2017

Brent Ozar

SQL Server

End ofa long, hard day, originally uploaded by BrentOzar. I spent the second half of the day building and installing a couple of pizza boxes from IBM. We’re cleaning up our network test lab, mounting flat panels on the walls for easier builds, and just generally making it a nicer place to spend time.

SQL Server training for developers: primary keys & indexes

Last Updated February 13, 2017

Brent Ozar

Indexing, SQL Server

I had to do some developer training last week and I wrote up a paper on the basics of primary keys and indexes. Sure, there’s tons of similar stuff around the net, but this is MINE, baby. Our Table: Phone Numbers For our evil training purposes, let’s say we work for the phone company, and…

Made the local news

Last Updated February 11, 2017

Brent Ozar

SQL Server

Sleepy Houstonian Well, whaddya know. The coffee shop interview I did with the TV reporter ended up making it to the local news that night. I got a laugh out of the subtitle they showed during the interview. I’ve got an agent, and I’m planning a new TV show called “The Sleepy Houstonian.” I figure…

Coffee and pills

Last Updated December 4, 2014

Brent Ozar

SQL Server

I had a really crummy day yesterday. Things just weren’t going my way, and I had all kinds of stupid small programming problems at work. Just one unrelated thing after another. Sometime in the afternoon, I stumbled downstairs for yet another pot of coffee and some ibuprofen, but I wasn’t really paying attention. I was…

New pair of shoes

Last Updated October 6, 2014

Brent Ozar

SQL Server

Woohoo! I got new shoes. Repeated watchings of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy convinced me that I needed to start putting some class into my wardrobe. First on the agenda: a couple pairs of new shoes. Yesterday, Erika and I went down to DSW, a big shoe store on Westheimer, and examined their mens’…

SQL Server

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