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putting out a SQL Server fire

How to Align Your SQL Server to Your RPO and RTO Goals

Many businesses depend on data systems. Data systems help doctors schedule appointments with patients. They allow construction companies to manage projects and calculate costs. The list goes on and on. And if a key data system isn’t available, it hurts. It’s disruptive. And users, customers, patients, and leadership get unhappy. That’s why it’s important to…
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Data Collection: Two Key Tools to Improve Your Data Strategy

Are your company’s data collection processes sound? Do they align with best practices? Welcome to the first of three posts on how to refine your strategy for data lifecycle management. In this post, we will look at how to evaluate your data collection processes for improvements. Data Collection in Data LifeCycle Management (DLM) As has…
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SQL Server database corruption can make you sick

A Severe Error Occurred! 5 Ways to Detect Database Corruption Early

No one likes to think about how to detect database corruption. But, Imagine this: you’re arriving at your job expecting an ordinary day. You begin receiving calls that the main application is returning a weird error when submitting or updating data; A severe error occurred on the current command.  The results, if any, should be…
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Are Information and Data Lifecycle Management Processes Different…and Who Cares?

Are Data Lifecycle Management (DLM) and Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) just fancy terms for the exact same thing – namely, data management? Will understanding these terms actually impact your data strategy in any meaningful way? Will knowing this distinction affect your business at all? Recently, we began a series of posts on data strategy by…
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Why is SQL Server slow?

Why is My SQL Server Slow? 14 Common Reasons

“Why is my SQL Server slow?” Have you ever asked that question? Have your users? Unfortunately, that’s a commonly asked question. Fortunately, though, something can usually be done about it. Here are fourteen reasons a SQL Server instance could be underperforming. I’ve divided them into four broad categories. Slowness due to resource constraints Often the…
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sql server data storage strategy

10 Data Storage Considerations for Growing Companies

As the business world becomes more and more data-centric, what questions does your growing company need to ask about its data storage? Recently, we began a series of posts on data strategy by asking whether your company data is an asset or a utility. In this post, we will look at 10 key data storage…
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SQL Server heartbeat

Why is it important to monitor SQL Server?

SQL Server is good. You install it, give it some databases to manage, and let it do it’s thing. When queries come in, it figures out how to resolve them. If it needs some statistics, it creates them. If the database is running out of space, it’ll grow the data file for you. Automatically. And…
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sql server data utility or asset

How to Justify IT Spend: Is Company Data an Asset or a Utility?

How do you justify investment in IT? That’s a commonly asked question for companies whose core business area is not technology. For many, it is a challenge to justify investment in technology. The primary purpose of IT, as some companies see it, is enabling the operation of the business. It’s not driving revenue. Every business,…
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dba at a small to medium size business

4 Ways to Better Manage SQL Server Without a DBA

Microsoft SQL Server is popular. Statistics vary as to just how popular, but most agree that it is one of the most popular database platforms in the world. And for good reason. It’s feature rich, very reliable, highly scalable, and can be made extremely secure. All good things. According to a 2022 survey conducted by…
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SQL Server FAQ

What’s the Difference in Index Defrag and Rebuild?

If you’ve worked with SQL Server for very long, you’re probably familiar with the concept of indexes. Indexes can help speed up queries by allowing SQL Server to quickly locate specific data values within a table. Indexes are typically much smaller than their underlying tables so they can be searched much more efficiently. (They aren’t…
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