Grant Fritchey It’s 3AM and I’m on call If you are part of a team that is required to ensure that an application stays running at all hours,... 27 April 2011 11 min read
Grant Fritchey Performing DBCC Checks Using SQL Virtual Restore Ever restored a corrupted database from the backup, only to find that the backups are corrupted too - All the... 07 April 2011 8 min read
Feodor Georgiev Database Documentation – Lands of Trolls: Why and How? When database documentation is mentioned in an IT Department, everybody nods wisely, yet everyone does their best to avoid doing... 07 April 2011 12 min read
Grant Fritchey SQL Strategies for ‘Versioned’ Data If you keep your data according to its version number, but need to work only with a particular version, what... 17 March 2011 17 min read
Hugo Shebbeare The Polyglot of Databases: How Knowledge of MySQL and Oracle Can Give SQL Server DBAs an Advantage Although switching between different RDBMSs can be the cause of some culture shock for the Database Administrator, it can have... 14 March 2011 16 min read
Brad McGehee Correlating SQL Server Profiler with Performance Monitor Both Performance Monitor and SQL Server Profiler provide valuable information about your server. However, if you combine the data from... 16 February 2011 24 min read
Timothy Ford Investigating Transactions Using Dynamic Management Objects There can be a great difference in the performance of a particular routine in a test database, and in a... 30 September 2010 39 min read
Rod Colledge Policy-based Management and Central Management Servers Whilst it may be more exciting as a DBA to rush around fixing broken databases, it is far better to... 30 September 2010 23 min read
Brad McGehee Rebuilding Indexes using the SSMS Database Maintenance Wizard Index fragmentation can cause problems with query performance. Indexes therefore need to be occasionally rebuilt. the Rebuild Index task of... 18 August 2010 24 min read
Greg Larsen Creative Solutions by Using a Number Table One irritating thing for the occasional SQL Server Developer is that the experts assume that you are familiar with the... 03 August 2010 16 min read
Brad McGehee Automate and Improve Your Database Maintenance Using Ola Hallengren’s Free Script If you ever feel uneasy when you set about handcrafting database maintenance jobs for SQL Server, it may be the... 20 July 2010 35 min read
Laerte Junior Gathering Perfmon Data with Powershell When you have to routinely collect data from Performance Monitor Counters, it soon becomes easier and more convenient to use... 08 July 2010 14 min read
Laerte Junior I’m a SQL Server DBA, and I’m in Love with PowerShell To learn PowerShell, Laerte suggests that you just start using it. To encourage you to start, he provides a series... 28 May 2010 13 min read
Buck Woody Mission Critical: SQL Server General Configuration You know how to set up a SQL Server instance, but it is great to have a list of all... 24 May 2010 4 min read
Buck Woody Mission Critical: Engine Pre-Installation Even with a task you're entirely familiar with, it is always great to have a checklist to make sure it... 31 March 2010 3 min read
Buck Woody Mission Critical: Database Design There is nothing like a checklist to make sure you've completed all the tasks in designing a database, and there... 18 March 2010 3 min read
Database Administration John Magnabosco in Database Administration Transparent Data Encryption Transparent Data Encryption is designed to protect data by encrypting the physical files of the database, rather than the data... 16 March 2010 26 min read
Rod Colledge Planning for Disaster There is a certain paradox in being advised to expect the unexpected, but the DBA must plan and prepare in... 16 March 2010 16 min read
Buck Woody Mission Critical: SQL Server 2008 Engine Post-Installation Even an experienced DBA finds it safer to double-check that all the tasks have been done, and in the right... 03 March 2010 3 min read
Buck Woody Mission Critical: SQL Server 2008 General Maintenance There is nothing that beats a simple checklist for ensuring that things don't get forgotten in the Database Maintenance process.... 15 February 2010 3 min read
