Aaron Bertrand in SQL Server

How to optimize planned availability group failovers in SQL Server

Learn how to perform fast and predictable SQL Server planned Availability Group (AG) failovers. Discover tips to reduce downtime, optimize...

20 February 2026 15 min read

Aaron Bertrand in SQL Server

How to fix the Invalid Length error in SQL Server

Learn why SQL Server throws the invalid length error in functions like LEFT, SUBSTRING, and RIGHT, and discover practical fixes...

12 January 2026 5 min read

Aaron Bertrand in SQL Server

How to fix the Invalid Object Name error in SQL Server

Learn why SQL Server shows ‘Invalid object name’ errors and how to fix them. Common causes include typos, missing objects...

18 December 2025 6 min read

Aaron Bertrand in Featured

Common SQL Server Problems: Network Related or Instance Specific Error Occurred

This is the first in a series of articles meant to provide practical solutions to common issues. In this post,...

07 July 2025 6 min read

Aaron Bertrand in Database Administration

SQL Server 2025 ZSTD Backup Compression Guide

SQL Server 2025 adds Zstandard (ZSTD) backup compression with LOW, MEDIUM, and HIGH levels. Compare ZSTD vs MS_XPRESS performance, syntax,...

11 June 2025 15 min read

Aaron Bertrand in T-SQL Programming

Five changes to SQL Server I’d love to see

I’ve had lots of wish lists over the years, from Ladybug to Connect to UserVoice, and very few of my...

01 January 2025 5 min read

Aaron Bertrand in SQL Server

Days of the Week, Bitwise Edition

I recently had to help support synchronization and distribution of workloads between multiple servers. Some of this work involves Task...

02 August 2024 7 min read

Aaron Bertrand in T-SQL Programming

Index cleanup : Harder than it looks

I’m not the first person to write about cleaning up unused or redundant indexes. You can read many articles about...

22 July 2024 7 min read

Aaron Bertrand in Database Administration

It’s a recovery strategy, not a backup strategy

I’ve talked about it before; you shouldn’t have a backup strategy, you should have a recovery strategy. I can’t possibly...

08 July 2024 12 min read

T-SQL Programming

Aaron Bertrand in T-SQL Programming

Snake draft sorting in SQL Server, part 4

Part of a series: [ Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 ] In the previous...

27 May 2024 9 min read

T-SQL Programming

Aaron Bertrand in T-SQL Programming

Snake draft sorting in SQL Server, part 3

Part of a series: [ Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 ] In part 2...

15 May 2024 5 min read

T-SQL Programming

Aaron Bertrand in T-SQL Programming

Snake draft sorting in SQL Server, part 2

Part of a series: [ Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 ] In my previous...

15 April 2024 7 min read

T-SQL Programming

Aaron Bertrand in T-SQL Programming

Snake draft sorting in SQL Server, part 1

Part of a series: [ Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 ] I recently had...

12 April 2024 8 min read

T-SQL Programming

Aaron Bertrand in T-SQL Programming

Pagination and ordering by large values

Pagination is a technique for limiting output. Think of Google search results, shopping the electronics category on Amazon, or browsing...

25 March 2024 9 min read

Database Administration

Aaron Bertrand in Database Administration

Get the most out of SQL Server Agent logs

If you haven’t migrated your workloads to a managed database platform yet, you’re probably still relying on SQL Server Agent...

11 March 2024 6 min read

Database Administration

Aaron Bertrand in Database Administration

Upgrade SQL Server on your workstation

Lately, I’ve seen many people struggling to upgrade their workstation to the latest version of SQL Server. The main source...

26 February 2024 6 min read

Database Administration

Aaron Bertrand in Database Administration

Leave it better than you found it

This is for the folks who still have to log into remote machines and do work manually on the box....

12 February 2024 8 min read

Database Administration

Aaron Bertrand in Database Administration

Optimized locking in Azure SQL Database

I don’t think I’ve ever had a great impression of Azure SQL Database as a place for production applications. In...

08 January 2024 8 min read

T-SQL Programming

Aaron Bertrand in T-SQL Programming

Counting more efficiently

Nearly a decade ago, I wrote a post called “Bad habits : Counting rows the hard way.” In that post,...

20 December 2023 7 min read

T-SQL Programming

Aaron Bertrand in T-SQL Programming

When an update doesn’t update

Tell me if you’ve heard this one before: I changed data from my application, but when I checked the database,...

27 November 2023 5 min read

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Aaron Bertrand

Aaron's content

How to optimize planned availability group failovers in SQL Server

How to fix the Invalid Length error in SQL Server

How to fix the Invalid Object Name error in SQL Server

Common SQL Server Problems: Network Related or Instance Specific Error Occurred

SQL Server 2025 ZSTD Backup Compression Guide

Five changes to SQL Server I’d love to see

Days of the Week, Bitwise Edition

Index cleanup : Harder than it looks

It’s a recovery strategy, not a backup strategy

Snake draft sorting in SQL Server, part 4

Snake draft sorting in SQL Server, part 3

Snake draft sorting in SQL Server, part 2

Snake draft sorting in SQL Server, part 1

Pagination and ordering by large values

Get the most out of SQL Server Agent logs

Upgrade SQL Server on your workstation

Leave it better than you found it

Optimized locking in Azure SQL Database

Counting more efficiently

When an update doesn’t update