Career Limiting Moves – Dropping a Table
In this new series, I will share some things that took place early in my career that could have resulted in my looking for new work—but didn’t! This post is also evidence that I haven’t…
Saving Time By Splitting Files for a Backup
During a recent engagement with a client transferring large files from on premises to Azure Storage, we discovered that files over a certain size are automatically throttled, causing file uploads to take much longer than expected.…
Expiration Date on Database Backups
What does the expiration date mean on SQL Server database backups? In SQL Server Management Studio, there’s an option in the Back Up Database wizard which explicitly provides an option for “Backup set will expire”.…
On Best Practices
We hear a lot about “best practice”, but what does it mean in the context of SQL Server? Wikipedia describes best practice as follows: A best practice is a method or technique that has been…
Compressed and Encrypted Backups on the Cheap
We back up our databases regularly. We store them on a secure network location so that if the database drive fails, we can still satisfy the requirements for a rapid disaster recovery time (RTO, or…
Is DBCC SHRINKFILE (filename, EMPTYFILE) fully logged?
Update: Paul Randal told me I had made a mistake in my post. The correction is below. On Wednesday last week, Kenneth Fisher (b | t) asked: “Is DBCC SHRINKFILE (filename, EMPTYFILE) fully logged?” Is…
Speaking at SQLSaturday 507 this weekend in Edmonton
On Saturday 9 April 2016, four days from today, I will be speaking at the first ever SQLSaturday in the province of Alberta. Edmonton is the provincial capital, so it makes sense to have it…
Cumulative Updates Are First Class
Since 27 January 2016, Microsoft recommends that Cumulative Updates be installed with the same confidence as Service Packs, and installed as they become available. The official announcement was posted on 24 March 2016 (their emphasis):…
Data Efficiency in SQL Server: DECIMAL
This is part two of a short series of posts about how I assign efficient data types when designing a new table or database. Use less space with BIGINT Last week, I spoke about a…
Data Efficiency in SQL Server: DATETIME
This is the first in a short series of posts about how I assign efficient data types when designing a new table or database. Use less space with DATETIME2 We all know that the DATETIME column…
What is your SQL Server 2005 Upgrade Plan?
SQL Server 2005 will no longer be supported by Microsoft as of 12 April 2016. One of the services I offer my customers is an upgrade from any* version of SQL Server to the latest…
Lazy Loading and Tries
This post has nothing to do with SQL Server, but if you like performance tuning, stick around. I learn technology by using it, pushing it to its limits, finding out how it breaks. I jokingly…
The ongoing saga of a slow tempdb on a fast server
Last week, I wrote about what should have been a fast system but was performing very poorly, weighing heavily on tempdb I/O performance. Our original changes did not make much of a difference, but now…
98% of I/O is taken up by tempdb
During a recent engagement, the customer explained that the performance on their relatively small system was especially slow on Monday morning, but generally bad that entire day. The SQL Server 2008 R2 instance, which runs…
Professionalism doesn’t mean a collared shirt and tie
Working from home, consulting with companies all over the world, has changed how I interact with customers. The last time I was physically on site was seven months ago. We deal almost exclusively with each…