In SQL Server 2022, Basic Availability Groups provide a limited, cost-effective solution for high availability and disaster recovery in the Standard Edition. However, they have several limitations when compared to a standard Availability Group in the Enterprise Edition. Although Basic AGs were introduced before SQL Server 2022, we’ll focus strictly on the latest version. Let’s…
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Ready to dive into our most popular blog posts? We’ve compiled a list of the top five blog posts that have resonated the most with our readers. Whether you’re new to our blog or a long-time reader, read on for valuable insights into data management, IT strategies, and more. Want to stay up to date…
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With each new release of SQL Server, we gain exciting new features—but also face the reality of deprecated features that should be phased out. Although these deprecated features aren’t immediately disabled, they won’t be supported in future SQL Server versions. Ideally, you should start removing them from your code now to avoid potential issues during…
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SQL Server Availability Groups can present challenges after a failover, such as missing logins, outdated passwords, or absent SQL Server Agent jobs. Some clients address these issues by requiring the primary replica to remain on the same instance. If a failover occurs due to an outage or patching, they generally request to revert the AG…
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A database on a specific SQL Server version doesn’t automatically have all features enabled. For example, a database on SQL Server 2019 can still use SQL Server 2014 compatibility, missing some 2019 features. Each database has a Compatibility Level setting that activates certain features of its version. When SQL Server 2014 introduced the Cardinality Estimator,…
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Many developers mistakenly use WITH (NOLOCK) in their SELECT statements without fully understanding its effects. While they might aim to speed up queries or prevent deadlocking, NOLOCK can actually lead to invalid results. What does NOLOCK do? A SELECT statement in SQL Server locks data to prevent modifications during querying. The lock is released after…
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So, you’ve decided your organization’s data needs to remain highly available. Given the options in SQL Server, you’ve decided an Availability Group makes the most sense for your scenario. What’s next? Involve Stakeholders Early in the Process of Building a SQL Server Availability Group Before jumping into building your Availability Group, it’s crucial to identify…
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A common mistake database developers make in SQL Server is naming their stored procedures with the “sp_” prefix. Organizations sometimes even adopt this as a standard convention (along with the “tbl_” prefix for tables!). So, why is this considered a bad practice? It’s inefficient. The “sp_” prefix is used by SQL Server to designate internal…
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I’ve had several companies inquire about SQL Server’s built-in high availability options over the years. This conversation usually indicates a need to ensure that their database systems remain operational and accessible with minimal downtime. But why now? They’ve been in business for years and are just now interested in HA/DR. What changed? Reasons vary, but…
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SQL Server is designed to efficiently manage memory on its own. It requests memory when it’s needed and releases memory back to the system when it’s not. However, the default settings may not be ideal for your situation. An experienced database administrator will usually fine-tune these settings to optimize performance and server stability. Minimum server…
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