Users are complaining. One of your SQL Servers is not just slow, but slooooooooooooooooowwwwwww. A 6-syllable slow. We’ve all been there. We’ve all had SQL Servers that are underperforming. But where do you start with performance tuning? Let’s look to a proven approach for decision-making and troubleshooting as our guide – the OODA Loop. The…
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“My SQL Server hasn’t had any problems. It just works. Do I still need a SQL Server Health Check?” The TL;DR answer is yes, it’s good to check on your SQL Server regularly. SQL Server just works, but… The SQL Server development team has done a great job. They’ve created a database platform that is…
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Let’s have a look at implicit type conversions and how they can affect SQL Server’s performance. What are type conversions? Let’s start with the basics. What are data type conversions? (If you’re well-versed in this, feel free to skip ahead a bit.) SQL Server works with different types of data. It works with numbers, character…
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What do rainy days, backpacking, and SQL Server Disaster Recovery have in common? Over the past several years I’ve been section hiking the Appalachian Trail. For my first trip, I started at the southern terminus, Springer Mountain, Georgia, and hiked northbound for 137 miles to Nantahala, North Carolina. It took just over a week. Each…
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The moon over my morning walk today. It was bright and beautiful. And under its glow, I realized that my morning walks have become an important routine for me. They are important for my physical and emotional health. They help start the day off on the right foot, so to speak. Similarly, routines are instrumental…
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So, there you are cleaning up files to make additional space and you find a file named “db.bak.” It’s a SQL Server backup file, that much is clear. But what’s in it? When was it created? Is it important? Or can it go? Why can’t people name backup files so that they describe what’s in…
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It was 19 F at 5:15 AM as I laced up my hiking shoes. That’s cold for my part of the world. Each morning, I walk two to four miles to get the day started. Why? I’m preparing for my next 150-mile trek along the Appalachian Trail. I put in the time now so I…
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Do you schedule DBCC CHECKDB for all of your important databases? Scheduling database integrity checks ranks right up there with backing up your databases when it comes to glamorous activities in the life of a DBA. That is to say, it’s not glamorous at all. Integrity checks don’t bring the same internal swagger as say…
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How many tempdb data files should a SQL Server have? And where should they live? What about their growth settings? Should it be by percent? Or, should they grow by a certain size each time? Are there other tempdb configuration settings I should be concerned with? In short: how should I configure my SQL Server…
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You’re cleaning up some old usernames in a database. The users are no longer needed so you want to drop them and maybe even the server login. You issue the standard DROP USER username; command in the query editor and it immediately comes back with Msg 15138, Level 16, State 1, Line 1 The database…
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