Last Saturday, I woke up before dawn to a quiet house. My family was still asleep, as I’m the only morning person in our household. The Christmas tree lights cast a warm glow across the room, and I was alone with my thoughts and a hot cup of coffee. No urgent emails, no fire drills,…
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Microsoft SQL Server 2025 has officially reached general availability, and it’s being called the most significant release for SQL developers in a decade. For IT leaders in community banking and financial services, this release brings meaningful improvements to performance, security, and licensing that deserve your attention. Whether you’re planning an upgrade from an aging SQL…
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When I talk with companies, whether they be community banks or healthcare companies, about their SQL Server environments, I find that most aren’t intentionally and proactively managing their SQL Server environment–they’re reacting to it. Things run fine until they don’t. Then, suddenly, IT teams are dealing with performance issues, failed backups, or questions from auditors…
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Query Store has been around since SQL Server 2016, but its full potential often goes untapped. Some companies were initially wary of it after some edge case problems arose during its initial rollout. However, since its initial release, Query Store has undergone numerous enhancements and is rapidly establishing itself as one of the most significant…
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SQL Server is mission-critical to your business. However, maintaining performance, reliability, security, and compliance demands ongoing attention and specialized expertise. SQL Server managed services can provide valuable support in these areas. Still, even if your technical team sees the need, it can be tough to make the business case to your CFO. Since managed services…
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If disaster struck your data center right now, how quickly—and how cleanly—could your SQL Server environment recover? It’s a question too many teams avoid until it’s too late. But between rising cybersecurity threats, growing compliance expectations, and increasing reliance on real-time data, a solid SQL Server disaster recovery (DR) plan is no longer optional. Here’s…
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“We’re upgrading Windows and SQL Server. Why can’t we just install the new version on top of the existing one? Why do we have to provision a new virtual machine and go through all that effort?” Whether you’re modernizing your SQL stack to meet compliance requirements, to maintain supportability, or because you want new features…
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Editor’s Note: This is part one of a two-part series. In next week’s follow-up, we’ll cover the project management and coordination strategies that helped make this migration a success. What if you could retire two aging SQL Server 2016 failover clustered instances, migrate 1,200+ databases to SQL Server 2022, and slash storage spend by 84%—all…
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In previous posts, we’ve covered the more routine types of backups available within SQL Server — full, differential, and transaction log backups. While you may not use them as often, you should also be aware of tail-log backups when managing SQL Server. Tail-log backups can help in two scenarios. What is a tail-log backup? Tail-log…
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For many businesses, the availability and performance of SQL Server databases are paramount. Unplanned downtime can lead to significant financial losses, tarnished reputations, and regulatory repercussions. Understanding the costs associated with SQL Server downtime and exploring strategies to mitigate these risks is essential for those aiming to maintain operational resilience in 2025. Read on for…
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