In the second part of Phil's series of articles on finding stuff (such as objects, scripts, entities, metadata) in SQL Server, he offers some scripts that should be handy for the developer faced with tracking down problem areas and potential weaknesses in a database.
Fabiano Amorim is hooked on today's Integrated Development Environments with built-in Intellisense, so he looked forward keenly to SQL Server 2008's native intellisense. He was disappointed at how it turned out, so turned instead to SQL Prompt. Fabiano explains why he prefers to SQL Prompt, why he reckons it fits in with the way that database developers work, and goes on to describe some of the features he'd like to see in it.
Rod Colledge turns his pessimistic mindset to storage systems, and describes the best way to configure the storage systems of SQL Servers for both performance and reliability. Even Rod gets a glint in his eye when he then goes on to describe the dazzling speed of solid-state storage, though he is quick to identify the risks.
Fabiano continues in his mission to describe, one week at a time, all the major Showplan Operators used by SQL Server's Query Optimiser to build the Query Plan. This week he gets the Concatenation operator .
The third part of Fabiano's mission to describe the major Showplan Operators used by SQL Server's Query Optimiser continues with the 'Compute Scalar' operator. Fabiano shows how a tweak to SQL to avoid a 'Compute Scalar' step can improve its performance..jpg)
TechEd India was one of the largest Technology events in India led by Microsoft. This event was attended by more than 3,000 technology enthusiasts, making it one of the most well-organized events of the year. Though I attempted to attend almost all the technology events here, I have not seen any bigger or better event [...]
Earlier today, I received following email. “Dear Pinal, We looked at your script and found out that in your script of disabling indexes, you have only included selected non-clustered index during the bulk insert and missed to disabled all the clustered index. Our DBA [name removed] has changed your script a bit and included all [...]
This is the first post in a what will be a series of posts on working with a sub-optimal disk configuration to squeeze as much performance out of it as possible. You might ask what a Sub-Optimal Disk Configuration? In this case it is a Dell Powervault MD3000 with 15 Seagate Barracuda ES.2 SAS 1 TB 7.2K RPM disks (Model Number ST31000640SS). This equates to just under 14TB of raw storage that can configured into a number of RAID configurations. In this case, the disk array...(read more)I think the title is clear what I am going to write in your post. This is age old problem and I want to compile the list stating advantages and disadvantages of using GUID and INT as a Primary Key or Clustered Index or Both (the usual case). Let me start a list by suggesting [...]There were lots of request about providing more details for the blog post through email address specified in the article SQLAuthority News – Public Training Classes In Hyderabad 12-14 May – Microsoft SQL Server 2005/2008 Query Optimization & Performance Tuning. Here is the complete brochure of the course. There are two different courses are offered [...]
After successfully delivering many corporate trainings as well as the private training Solid Quality Mentors, India is launching the Public Training in Hyderabad for SQL Server 2008 and SharePoint 2010. This is going to be one of the most unique and one-of-a-kind events in India where Solid Quality Mentors are offering public classes. I will [...]Background Story: One of my friends recently called up and asked me if I had spare time to look at his database and give him a performance tuning advice. Because I had some free time to help him out, I said yes. I asked him to send me the details of his database structure and [...]This blog post is in response to several inquiry about Free Download of SQL Server 2008 R2 RTM. Microsoft has announced SQL Server 2008 R2 as RTM (Release To Manufacture). Microsoft® SQL Server® 2008 R2 Express is a powerful and reliable data management system that delivers a rich set of features, data protection, and performance [...]Blog reader Joyesh Mitra recently left a comment to one of my very old posts about SQL SERVER – 2005 Take Off Line or Detach Database, which I have written focusing on taking the database offline. However, I did not include how to bring the offline database to online in that post. The reason I [...]
After reading my earlier post SQL SERVER – Create Primary Key with Specific Name when Creating Table on Statistics, I have received another question by a blog reader. The question is as follows: Question: Are the statistics sampled by default? Answer: Yes. The sampling rate can be specified by the user and it can be [...]It is interesting how sometimes the documentation of simple concepts is not available online. I had received email from one of the reader where he has asked how to create Primary key with a specific name when creating the table itself. He said, he knows the method where he can create the table and then [...]Update: Thank you Paul Randal for your comment. With your comment, I think now this post is complete. If you are an SQL Server Consultant/Trainer involved with Performance Tuning and Query Optimization, I am sure you have faced the following questions many times. When is statistics updated? What is the interval of Statistics update? What [...]
During several recent training courses, I found it very interesting that Worker Thread is not quite known to everyone despite the fact that it is a very important feature. At some point in the discussion, one of the attendees mentioned that we can double the Worker Thread if we double the CPU (add the same [...]Few days ago, I wrote about SQL SERVER – Find Current Location of Data and Log File of All the Database. There was very interesting conversation in comments by blog readers. Blog reader and SQL Expert Sreedhar has very interesting DMV presented which lists the most active database in SQL Server. For quick reference he [...]
Microsoft Press has published FREE eBook on the most awaiting release of SQL Server 2008 R2. The book is written by Ross Mistry (@rossmistry) and Stacia Misner. Ross is my personal friend and one of the most active book writer in SQL Server Domain. When I see his name on any book, I am sure [...]
This is tool is pretty old, yet always comes as a handy tip. I had a great trip at TechEd in India. And, during one of my presentations, I was asked if there are any shortcuts to SELECT only TOP 100 records from SSMS. I immediately told him that if he explores the table in [...]
Today’s blog post is about the biggest complement I have ever received. I am very very happy and would like to share my feelings with you. Thomas Larock (Blog | Twitter) (known as SQLRockstar) keeps the excellent ranking of the blogger in SQL Server Arena. I am big fan of this list and have been [...]
If you are a regular reader of this blog, you might know that I travel nearly 20+ days out of 30 days in a month. There are cases when I don’t have a chance to go home for an entire month and my family has to travel to different cities just to meet me. During [...]What is Spatial Database? A spatial database is a database that is optimized to store and query data related to objects in space, including points, lines and polygons. While typical databases can understand various numeric and character types of data, additional functionality needs to be added for databases to process spatial data types. (Source: Wikipedia) [...]
This article was written as a response to T-SQL Tuesday #005 – Reporting. The three most important components of any computer and server are the CPU, Memory, and Hard disk specification. This post talks about how to get more details about these three most important components using the Management Data Collection. Management Data Collection generates [...]If you are following my blog, you already know that I am more of “T-SQL and Performance Tuning” type of person. I do have a good understanding of Business Intelligence suit and I also do certain training sessions on the same subject. When I was writing the blog post for T-SQL Tuesday #005 – Reporting, [...]
XML Literals allow you to use XML syntax in your code. It’s easy to work with XML files this way, since you have that Tags in the code, but it’s also quicker to access information rather then the traditional methods.What is MDS? Master Data Services helps enterprises standardize the data people rely on to make critical business decisions. With Master Data Services, IT organizations can centrally manage critical data assets company wide and across diverse systems, enable more people to securely manage master data directly, and ensure the integrity of information over time. (Source: [...]
Last Year during the TechEd India 2009 SQL Server Cheat Sheets were instant hit. Yesterday when I announce that I am going to attend TechED India 2010 at Bangalore, I received many requests for the same. I have only 30 copies available at this moment. I will print more copies of the same after this [...]Microsoft Tech-Ed India 2010 is considered as the major Technology event of the year for various IT professionals and developers. This event will feature a comprehensive forum in order to learn, connect, explore, and evolve the current technologies we have today. I would recommend this event to you since here you will learn about today’s [...]
Allen Tuladhar I recently came back from my 9-day trip in Nepal and I must say that this is one of the best trips I had in my lifetime. Allen Bailochan Tuladhar is a wonderful person and an extreme enthusiast for Microsoft Technology. Allen is the Chief Executive Officer of Unlimited Technologies Pvt Ltd., Country [...]
I was very fortunate to attend TechMela at Kathmandu, Nepal on 29th and 30th of March 2010. I would like to thank Allen Bailochan Tuladhar from Microsoft MDP Nepal for inviting me. Allen is a person with seemingly infinite energy and unlimited passion for Microsoft Technology. If you get an opportunity to spend just one [...]