Courses

Tuning a Stored Procedure - SQLChallenge (1 hour 10 minutes)

on August 15, 2018

Your challenge is to identify which statement is slowing down our stored procedure the most, then tune the code to speed it up.

You may change the query that is slow as well as anything else in the procedure that will help you make that statement faster.

In the solution videos, I’ll step through multiple strategies to figure out which statement in the procedure is slowing it down the most - because in real life, you need to have a whole bag of tricks in different situations.

How to Decode Memory Pressure (4 hours)

on August 14, 2018

SQL Server doesn’t make it easy to see if your SQL Server is under memory pressure, or if someone goofed when configuring the memory settings on your critical production instances.

Note: this webinar was recorded in 2018. This topic is not as “evergreen” as some: note that memory management changes as both SQL Server and the operating system it is on evolves.

Deduplicate Indexes - Level 1 SQLChallenge (56 minutes)

on July 16, 2018

Your challenge is to de-duplicate the indexes on a table in a sample database. Can you predict which indexes are the safest ones to drop? In this hands-on SQLChallenge, you’ll learn how to script out all indexes, group them for analysis, identify duplicate and redundant indexes, and determine which ones can be safely removed. You’ll work through the challenge setup, analyze index structures and usage patterns, and review sample solutions that demonstrate different approaches to index deduplication.

How to Decipher CXPACKET Waits and Control Parallelism (4 hours)

on June 18, 2018

Learn to tune parallelism and interpret CXPACKET waits in SQL Server.

Tuning parallelism has always been complicated — and with the introduction of new CXCONSUMER waits, it’s only getting more tricky to interpret.

XEvents SQLChallenge: Create an Extended Events Trace (55 minutes)

on June 18, 2018

Build your skills with Extended Events in this hands-on SQLChallenge. You’ll set up a problem scenario in your test instance, then configure an Extended Events trace that captures the problem. Along the way, you’ll learn when traces will capture events and when they won’t, understand event filtering and configuration options, and work through sample solutions that demonstrate different approaches to Extended Events trace design.

Follow the script to set up a problem in your test instance of SQL Server. Then, your challenge is to configure a trace that will capture the problem – and also learn more about when the trace will capture an event, and when it won’t.

Index Design SQLChallenge - One Year Wonders (50 minutes)

on June 3, 2018

This challenge comes in three possible levels of difficulty: choose one or work through them all!

Level 1: design the best disk based nonclustered rowstore index for the sample query– in this case, “best” is defined as reducing the number of logical reads as much as possible for the query. Design only one index without using any more advanced indexing features such as filters, views, etc. Make no schema changes to the table other than creating the single nonclustered index.

Learn Indexing by Solving Problems (7 hours 23 minutes)

on May 30, 2018

SQL Server asks for a lot of indexes — but it does NOT always ask for the right index! You need to know the essential principles of index design to create the best nonclustered index, filtered index, or indexed view to speed up your critical queries.

_This live virtual seminar was recorded in June 2018._This course teaches you the fundamentals of creating disk-based, rowstore indexes in SQL Server in two four-hour sessions.