Blogs

Sabbatical Update: 4 Months of Fun and Reflection

I’m about four months into my planned six month sabbatical.

At the beginning, I worried a little that I might not like life as a grownup without a job. Would I feel lost? Purposeless? Bored?

Nope. It turns out that I am excellent at not having a real job. I’ve learned a bunch, enjoyed life, seen a bit of the world, gotten healthier, and created some teaching materials that I’m super proud of.

Continue reading

Submit a Dear DBA Question

If you’re a database administrator, a developer, or just someone who plays one on TV, I know you’ve got questions. Technical questions. Political questions. Questions about how to handle your coworker with stinky feet who wears flip flops to work. (Been there!)

Now you’ve got a way to get answers. Submit your question to Dear DBA.

Continue reading

Indexes: Do Included Columns Always Go on a Non-Root Page? (video)

Recently, I was thinking about nonclustered indexes in SQL Server, and how included columns are stored.

Is SQL Server smart enough to optimize the storage for small indexes with includes? Find out in this free seven minute video.

Continue reading

How to Script Out Indexes from SQL Server

Sometimes you need to script out all the indexes in a database. Maybe you’re concerned something has changed since they were last checked in. Or maybe the indexes aren’t checked into source control, and you’re working on fixing that. (Important!)

Either way, sometimes you need to do it, and it’s not fun through the GUI. I needed to write some fresh demo code for this recently, and I needed it to give the details for partitioned tables using data compression, and I thought I’d share.

Continue reading

Why Table Partitioning Does Not Speed Up Query Performance (video)

Learn why SQL Server’s table partitioning feature doesn’t make your queries faster– and may even make them slower.

Continue reading

Required Testing for Installing SQL Server Cumulative Updates and Service Packs

Microsoft recently updated their policies and recommendations for installing cumulative updates.

Continue reading

What is the Difference between a Junior and Senior DBA?

I got a great question from a student recently:

In your opinion, where is the distinction between Junior DBA and Senior DBA? I’ve always worked on small teams, so sometimes it’s hard to tell where I fit.

Continue reading

Managing Statistics in SQL Server for DBAs (videos)

Want to learn more about managing statistics updates in SQL Server? Watch my 27 minute presentation on managing statistics.

Continue reading

Updating Statistics in SQL Server: Maintenance Questions & Answers

I’ve been asked a lot of questions about updating statistics in SQL Server over the years. And I’ve asked a lot of questions myself! Here’s a rundown of all the practical questions that I tend to get about how to maintain these in SQL Server.

Continue reading

Free Webcast! Updating Statistics in SQL Server: Questions and Answers

What are statistics? How often should you update them? Do you need a trace flag to make this easier? What are duplicate statistics, and do you need to drop them?

Join me for a live Hangout on Monday, April 18 at 8:30 AM Pacific / 11:30 AM Eastern to up your maintenance game!

Continue reading