Sometimes, y’all post questions at https://pollgab.com/room/brento and they don’t get a lot of upvotes, and reading through ’em, I bet it’s because other people don’t quite understand what you’re asking. I think there might actually be a good question at the heart of it, but … I’m just not sure what it is, and it needs to be rephrased.
Here’s a rundown of some of ’em that came in recently. If you recognize one of these as yours, you’re welcome to re-submit it at PollGab, but with clarification.
MonkeySQLDBA: Recently watched one of your video on fragmentation, great stuff. quick question, if your fill factor is set to 80, will the internal fragmentation get to 70% faster than leaving fill factor to 0?
Zoom out: what problem are you trying to solve? What’s the action that you would take based on this knowledge? Think about those, and then re-post the question.
Piotr: If SQL Server and PostgreSQL were aircraft which aircraft models would they be? F14 vs SU57?
I love the question, but I don’t know enough about aircraft to answer it. I don’t even know if those two airplanes are good, bad, or the same, hahaha.
Keith: Hey Brent! Is it safe to upgrade my Azure SQL database from compatibility level 140 to 160 just to be able to run the GENERATE_SERIES function?
Is it hard for you to create a numbers table? Like, really? I’m not being sarcastic, but if you need a list of numbers, why wouldn’t you just create one?
I Cannot Do This Alone: I’m sure it has always been hard to get skilled help, BUT… have you ever heard of “non-tech” companies sharing there tech talent in like a pool? I know I’m on the hook for a trashing here, but better by you than my CIO 😉
I think you’re describing outsourcing – having a group of full time tech employees that you can call on whenever you need them, and just pay for what you use.

Henry: I am planning on an in place SQL Server upgrade from SQL Server 2012 to 2016 on a Windows Failover Cluster. All of my databases are in Full mode with Transaction logs taken every 5min. Should i put the databases in Simple during the upgrade?
Don’t upgrade in place, period.
Government Cheese: How do you like to measure IOPs for SQL Server storage (bare metal and cloud VM)?
First, I don’t, but even if I did – are you talking about measuring how many they already consume, or how much a new server provides? If you’re asking how many they already consume, how is that useful? You don’t know if the users are happy or not, or if you need to reduce storage throughput or increase it.
ConsultantWannabe: Hey Brent, you teach we should stand next to expensive things (like SS or Oracle) as contractors/consultants, any advice to identify our own expensive thing to stand next to? Obviously apart from standing nex to SS. Thanks
Are you … asking me … how to find out how much things cost? I’m confused. Why wouldn’t you just … ask management what the most expensive thing in the shop is?
Jeremiah Daigle: I have a server that has 2 8Core CPUs, and only have 8 enterprise core licenses. I was planning to just remove one of the CPUs, but ran into issues not having the blank to put back in. Is there anything to be concerned about by turning down each CPU to 4 cores in bios instead?
Having a blank to put in? I’m not sure what you mean – you shouldn’t need a “blank” CPU. I think someone’s pulling your leg, like they’re telling you to go get blinker fluid.
Maksimilian: What’s the best technique for a SQL sproc to self audit the params it was called with?
Self audit? Have the proc log them to a table. (I think I might be misunderstanding the question because it seems so obvious, but if you want to log something, and you’re in a database, well, uh, put it in a table.)
Eduardo: Linked-in provides automated public notification of completed course training. How should DBAs notify potential employers of completed Ozar training?
You mean … how do you add things to your resume in LinkedIn? I’m genuinely confused – are you asking how to edit your resume? I’m guessing you just click Edit on your profile, right? Put in whatever text you want there. If you’re saying that you have a problem because you need automation every time you complete any of my courses, and I have so doggone many of them, then stop putting each one – just put Fundamentals and Mastering.
Hangman: When is sp_whoisactive context_switches a useful metric for performance troubleshooting?
Ask whoever told you to look at that metric. Otherwise, don’t walk into the airplane cockpit, point at a gauge, and ask the pilot, “Hey, what’s that dial mean?” That’s not an effective use of anyone’s time. SQL Server is way worse than an airplane cockpit: there are precisely 1.21 gigawatts of metrics out there, and most of ’em just aren’t useful.
Eduardo: Is it good idea to start identity integer cols for new fast growing tables at the max negative value for a big int? Do you see this much in the field?
It’s fine. I almost never see it.
Tony: Will you be purchasing TSQL fundamentals 4th edition?
No. I’m sure it’s good, and I’m sure you doubt my T-SQL abilities, fair enough, but I’ve moved on to learning other stuff.
Isaac: How do you find all the queries that are using the kitchen sync query pattern (Col1 = @Col1Val or Col1 IS NULL) AND (Col2 = @Col2Val or Col2 IS NULL)? How do you find the worst of the worst?
Instead of looking for anti-patterns, ask, “What are the 10 worst-performing queries that I need to tune, and what are the anti-patterns in those?” That’s what sp_BlitzCache does.
TheCuriousOne: Hi Brent! From your perspective, is there any open problem/issue preventing a problem free upgrade from SQL Server 2019 to 2022 and if so, what are the gotchas to look out for?
Microsoft used to publish detailed upgrade guides for each version of SQL Server, but they stopped doing it. Check out the most recent one from 2014 (PDF) and that’ll give you a rough idea of how complex it is to migrate an existing environment.
Eduardo: What is your favorite graph database and why?
I don’t use any myself, so I’m not qualified to answer that.
Wasn’t_Me: We are thinking about switching from Azure to AWS. On docs.aws.amazon.com I find this phrase: “When you set up an Amazon RDS DB instance for Microsoft SQL Server, the software license is included.” What?? Does it means that on AWS I don’t have to pay SSRS, SSIS, SSAS?
Licensing is included in the hourly rate, yes. Amazon also offers bring-your-own-licensing. Keep in mind that you said RDS, and RDS doesn’t have SSRS, SSIS, and SSAS – you’ve got a lot more reading to do. Fortunately, I’ve got a training class to help.
Marian: Hi Brent! Have you even been to Romania? Would you consider attending some big tech event in Romania in the nearby future?
No, and since the pandemic, I’ve cut back a lot on my conference schedule. I’m sure Romania is nice, but I did a quick Google search and didn’t see any SQL Server conferences in Romania. I’m not really interested in non-SQL-Server conferences – when I want to learn other technologies, I tend to use cheaper/easier methods rather than traveling.
Neil: I set up all my SQL servers with TCP/IP enabled only. A developer is trying to connect with named pipes. Should I enable named pipes or force them to use TCP/IP?
I don’t have any opinion on this one whatsoever. (I don’t think I’ve ever disabled named pipes.) Why did you disable it?