Database Administration Monica Rathbun in Database Administration TempDB Growth: Diagnose & Fix SQL Server Issues Fix uncontrolled TempDB growth in SQL Server. Learn to diagnose causes - query spills, version store, temp tables - shrink... 22 March 2021 11 min read
SQL Server Pamela Mooney in SQL Server The basics of SQL Server internals (DBA in training, part seven) In this article of the series, Pamela Mooney explains the architecture of SQL Server under the hood, including some query... 28 January 2021 27 min read
Database Administration Edward Pollack in Database Administration SQL Server Triggers: When to Use (and Avoid) SQL Server DML triggers explained - AFTER, INSTEAD OF, logging, validation. When triggers help, when they hurt performance, and best... 25 January 2021 37 min read
Database Administration Greg Larsen in Database Administration Search SQL Server error log files The SQL Server error log is helpful for troubleshooting issues. Greg Larsen demonstrates several ways to search SQL Server error... 19 January 2021 11 min read
T-SQL Programming Uwe Ricken in T-SQL Programming SQL Server Heap PFS Contention: Diagnosing INSERT Bottlenecks (Part 4) PFS (Page Free Space) contention is a heap INSERT bottleneck in SQL Server that occurs during high-concurrency workloads. Learn how... 05 January 2021 15 min read
Other Kathi Kellenberger in Other Security is hard work I was once a database administrator in charge of several SQL Servers hosting the databases of vendor apps. Right after... 22 December 2020 2 min read
Databases Pamela Mooney in Databases How to know your server’s limits (DBA in training, part six) Comparing current performance to baselines helps DBAs know when there’s a problem. In this article, Pamela Mooney describes how to... 10 December 2020 15 min read
SQL Server Pamela Mooney in SQL Server SQL Server Security for DBAs: Authentication, Permissions, Monitoring, and Audit Comprehensive SQL Server security guide for DBAs - covering physical and data-file security, patching, authentication (Windows vs SQL), server and... 08 October 2020 28 min read
Database Administration Robert Sheldon in Database Administration Storage 101: Monitoring storage metrics Well tuned storage is essential for SQL Server performance. In this article, Robert Sheldon explains the metrics that are important... 06 October 2020 15 min read
Performance Edward Pollack in Performance SQL Server Remote Data: Linked Servers, OPENQUERY & ETL Best practices for accessing remote data in SQL Server. Covers linked servers, OPENQUERY vs four-part naming, SSIS packages, OPENROWSET, and... 30 September 2020 23 min read
Performance Robert Sheldon in Performance SQL Server Computed Columns: Persisted vs Indexed Performance Compare SQL Server computed column performance across four configurations: non-persisted, persisted, indexed, and indexed-persisted. Includes execution plans and benchmarks using... 10 September 2020 14 min read
T-SQL Programming Edward Pollack in T-SQL Programming Query Patterns for Columnstore Indexes: Joins & Performance (Part 4) Optimize query patterns against columnstore indexes in SQL Server. Learn segment and rowgroup elimination, dimension table joins, performance pitfalls, and... 01 September 2020 21 min read
Performance Edward Pollack in Performance Columnstore Index Maintenance: Rebuild, Reorganize & Options Guide to columnstore index maintenance in SQL Server. Covers rebuild vs reorganize, rowgroup management, nonclustered columnstore indexes, and memory-optimized columnstore... 21 July 2020 23 min read
T-SQL Programming Edward Pollack in T-SQL Programming Columnstore Index Best Practices: Data Order & Partitioning (Part 2) SQL Server columnstore index best practices: optimize data order for rowgroup elimination, use segment metadata, implement partitioning, and apply archive... 24 June 2020 20 min read
Performance Greg Larsen in Performance Improve Row Count Estimates for Table Variables without Changing Code Table variables can cause performance issues with joins when they contain a large number of rows. In SQL Server 2019,... 26 May 2020 12 min read
T-SQL Programming Uwe Ricken in T-SQL Programming Heaps in SQL Server: Part 1 The Basics Most advice you see online about heaps is to avoid them. In this article, Uwe Ricken describes the basics of... 21 May 2020 9 min read
T-SQL Programming Edward Pollack in T-SQL Programming Columnstore Index Architecture in SQL Server (Part 1 of 4) Deep dive into columnstore index architecture in SQL Server. Learn how rowgroups, segments, the deltastore, and compression work with hands-on... 21 May 2020 23 min read
Editorials Kathi Kellenberger in Editorials Key Insights from the 2020 State of SQL Server Monitoring Report This marks the third year that Redgate have launched a survey to better understand how organisations monitor their databases. This... 20 May 2020 3 min read
Performance Greg Larsen in Performance Right-Sizing Row Mode Query Memory Requirements When the optimizer doesn’t estimate the correct amount of memory for a query, either memory is wasted that could be... 29 April 2020 16 min read
Performance Fabiano Amorim in Performance Tempdb – Here’s a Problem You Didn’t Know You Had Because of its many roles, tempdb is the source of performance issues in SQL Server, and there are recommended configuration... 21 April 2020 14 min read
