Blogs

Adaptive Query Processing (Dear SQL DBA Episode 21)

Episode update, April 2017: Learn About Adaptive Query Processing from Joe Sack

Microsoft shared a great video about Adaptive Query Processing, and you can learn about this new feature from Microsoft Program Manager Joe Sack. My original post below is full of speculation. Joe’s video is full of actual facts!

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SQL Server Query Store - Filegroups and Adhoc Workloads

A couple of questions on SQL Server 2016’s new Query Store feature came up in my recent pre-conference session on index tuning in SQL Server. I wasn’t 100% sure of the answer offhand, so I promised to follow up in a blog post.

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Thoughts from the SQLPASS Summit Wednesday Keynote, 2016

It’s the week of the largest SQL Server conference, the SQLPASS Summit. I’m in Seattle with more than 6,000 other SQL Server professionals. I made it to the Keynote this morning, only to find Rob Farley sitting next to me.

I’ve got a cold and I was waiting for the DayQuil to kick in when the Keynote began. If you’ve ever met Rob, you know I was in no danger of falling asleep.

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Wildcard vs Regular Expressions - Lucene Query in Azure Search

Sometimes clever developers let you try out cloud services with very little work on your part. This is one of those times - get ready for “Playing with Azure Search: No Installation Required.”

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Where do You Get Your Creativity? (Dear SQL DBA Episode 20)

As a database administrator or developer, you’ll get into trouble fast if you try to force all your code and processes into a database shaped hole. You have to be creative when you problem solve  – and when you communicate! So how do you cultivate creativity?

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Decoding Key and Page WaitResource for Deadlocks and Blocking

If you use SQL Server’s blocked process report or collect deadlock graphs, occasionally you’ll come across things that look like this:

waitresource=“PAGE: 6:3:70133 " waitresource=“KEY: 6:72057594041991168 (ce52f92a058c)”

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Should You Rebuild or Reorganize Indexes on Large Tables? (Dear SQL DBA Episode 19)

The bigger your indexes are, the harder your index maintenance falls. Is it better to rebuild big indexes? Or should you reorganize?

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Books to Learn SQL Server Performance Tuning and Database Design

I get a lot of requests about which books are helpful to learn performance tuning and database design. I totally get that – I still like learning with books. It doesn’t mean training videos or blogs are any less cool. They can all work together.

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Can I Use Statistics to Design Indexes? (Dear SQL DBA Episode 18)

Should you look at automatically created statistics on your tables in SQL Server to help you design better indexes? Learn why in this 20 minute video, or subscribe to the Dear SQL DBA podcast. No time to watch? Scroll on down, everything is written in article form below the video. Here’s this week’s question: Dear SQL DBA, I’ve noticed that many indexes in my data warehouse aren’t used frequently.

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Last Minute Coupon Code for 2016 SQLPASS Summit

I can’t wait to teach my full day course, SQL Server Index Formulas: Problems and Solutions in Seattle at the PASS Summit on Tuesday, October 25th. Woot! Less than 3 weeks away!

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