Search Results for “disaster recovery”

SQL Backup Software: Part 5 – Justifying the Cost

Last Updated February 13, 2017

I’ve talked about how a SQL backup compression program can help database administrators, but now it’s time to convince the boss. We have to sell management on why it’s worth the money. First, a few words about my approach to database administration, because I think it’ll help DBAs in general. Being a database administrator is…

SQL Backup Software: Part 4 – Features Still Missing

Last Updated February 13, 2017

Brent Ozar

Backup and Recovery

In this issue of my multi-part series about SQL Server backup compression software, I’m going to talk about some features that database administrators might find useful, but don’t yet exist in the current generation of backup software. In-Depth Backup & Restore Progress Monitoring On multi-terabyte data warehouses – especially those running new backup compression software…

PASS Summit 2007: Day Two Notes

Last Updated February 9, 2017

Brent Ozar

#SQLPass

Tom Casey: Keynote Tom covered basic SQL Server marketing slides about the BI stack. Yawn. Good presenter, but couldn’t overcome the dry material. Then he handed it off to a Dell woman to announce that they’ll be selling packaged BI solutions with hardware, software, storage, etc all in one bundle. They’re targeting customers in the…

Office Hours Speed Round: Text Edition

Last Updated July 13, 2022

Brent Ozar

Production Database Administration

Not all of the questions you post at https://pollgab.com/room/brento are hard. Some of ’em can be answered in one line: Q: accidentalDBA: Hi Brent, My friend is moving from two physical servers (production + failover) to VMs on the same host and SAN. His manager wants to keep log shipping as a DR solution. I…

3 Ways to Run DBCC CHECKDB Faster

Last Updated August 27, 2020

Brent Ozar

CHECKDB and Corruption

In my last post, I talked about how you can get 43%-67% faster backups. Today, I’m using that same SQL Server setup to discuss how throwing more CPU cores might help you check for corruption faster if you’ve already got modern fast storage. I don’t expect everyone to go to this level of detail by…

DBAs Need a Jump Box or Jump Server.

Last Updated August 13, 2018

Brent Ozar

Processes and Practices

Every now and then, you’re going to need to run a query that takes a long time. You’re going to want to make sure that it succeeds and that you can see the full output – even if your workstation disconnects – or maybe you want to check the status from home later. You’re going…

Does your backup strategy achieve RPO and RTO goals of the business?

Last Updated July 20, 2018

Tara Kizer

Backup and Recovery

When deciding on a backup strategy for a database, there are various things we must consider: Does this database need point-in-time recovery? What are the RPO (data loss) and RTO (downtime) goals? No one likes losing data or encountering unplanned downtime, but the business must decide on these goals so that we can setup an…

[Video] Office Hours 2018/3/21 (With Transcriptions)

Last Updated March 28, 2018

Brent Ozar Unlimited Team

Videos

This week, Brent, Erik, and Richie discuss replication, SQL Source Control with Git, installing service packs in cumulative updates in SQL Server, query tuning, write errors, log backups, Azure-managed instances, 3-rd party backup software, and DBA porn. Here’s the video on YouTube: You can register to attend next week’s Office Hours, or subscribe to our podcast to…

[Video] Office Hours 2017/09/13 (With Transcriptions)

Last Updated October 7, 2017

Brent Ozar Unlimited Team

SQL Server, Videos

Note: this is coming to you from the past due to technical difficulties. This week, Brent and Erik discuss Availability Group issues, database diagram tools, AWS vs Azure, diagnosing async io waits, troubleshooting deadlocks, extended events, using same login credentials for everyone in the company, adjusting and more. Here’s the video on YouTube: You can…

Building a Faux PaaS, Part 2: Choosing and Testing a Cloud Vendor

Last Updated June 8, 2017

Brent Ozar

Cloud Computing, Microsoft Azure

Background: I’m working with kCura to build a Faux PaaS: something akin to Microsoft’s Azure SQL DB, but internally managed. In Part 1 of this series, I talked about why we’re building it, and today, I’ll talk about where. The database team rarely gets to pick the cloud vendor. The choice between Amazon, Google, and Microsoft is…

[Video] Office Hours 2017/01/25 (With Transcriptions)

Last Updated January 29, 2017

Brent Ozar Unlimited Team

SQL Server, Videos

This week, Brent, Erik, Tara, and Richie discuss whether an antivirus can corrupt a database or remove data files, the biggest node clusters they’ve worked with, whether cursors are a good idea for reporting queries, authogrowth setting for new servers, memory-optimized tables, index rebuilds and more. Here’s the video on YouTube: You can register to…

Questions You Should Be Asking About Your Backups

Last Updated February 9, 2017

Erik Darling

Backup and Recovery, SQL Server

#basicbackup So you’re taking backups! That’s great. Lots of people aren’t, and that’s not so great. Lots of people think they are, but haven’t bothered to see if the jobs are succeeding, or if their backups are even valid. That’s not great, either; it’s about the same as not taking them to begin with. If…

Microsoft SQL Server Licensing Simplified into 7 Rules

Last Updated March 1, 2024

Brent Ozar

Licensing, SQL Server

203

Licensing is really complex, but as long as you know these seven rules, you can go a long way: If you query it, you have to license it. “It” means the Windows environment – all of the processor cores that Windows sees. (Things get a little weirder under virtualization.) Offloading a backup or a DBCC is…

How Many Databases Can I Put on One SQL Server?

Last Updated February 9, 2017

Brent Ozar

Architecture, Backup and Recovery, ISV and SaaS Database Design, SQL Server

I’ve seen servers with thousands of databases on a single SQL Server, and it works. Sure, opening the databases list in SQL Server Management Studio is painful, and a lot of third party monitoring tools fall over, but it’s not so bad once you know how to work around these issues. But there’s two issues…

How to Back Up Terabytes of Databases

Last Updated February 13, 2017

Brent Ozar

Backup and Recovery, SQL Server

When you weren’t looking, your databases went and grew up. Now your backup window has grown so large that you’re about ready to open it and jump. Time to make a choice. The Native Way: Tuning SQL Server Backups You can theoretically pull this off by using a combination of tactics: Back up as infrequently as the…

When Do You Fire the DBA?

Last Updated March 6, 2014

Brent Ozar

SQL Server

I know a lot of DBAs, but it’s really, really rare that I’ve seen one get fired. I don’t think it’s ever happened during one of my consulting engagements, and I’ve seen some incredibly horrific database disasters (not to mention a whole lotta ugly near-misses). So I asked Twitter: Thinking about a blog post. When…

Data Loss Risks Detected

Last Updated June 17, 2014

Brent Ozar

Is Your SQL Server a Loser? Detecting Data Loss Risks MSDB: Where SQL Server Stores Backup History When SQL Server does backups or restores, it records the history in these MSDB tables: BackupSet – includes server_name, database_name, backup_start_date, backup_finish_date. Note that even failed backups will show up here, so you’ll need to filter those out.…

Common SQL Server Clustering, AlwaysOn, and High Availability Answers

Last Updated March 22, 2019

Brent Ozar

Always On Availability Groups, Clustering, SQL Server

Our live webcast topic this week was Q&A – you could bring any HA/DR questions, and we could avoid your answers. Just kidding. Here’s the webcast – we apologize for the audio, WebEx is still getting their act together. It cleans up after the first couple of minutes. And here’s the questions we couldn’t get…

3 Things You Need to Start Doing to Your Database Server

Last Updated February 13, 2017

Jes Schultz

CHECKDB and Corruption, SQL Server

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…

Documentation: It Doesn’t Suck!

Last Updated January 16, 2013

Jes Schultz

SQL Server

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…

Search Results for “disaster recovery”

Hi! I’m Brent Ozar.