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Snake draft sorting in SQL Server, part 4
In the previous posts in this series (part 1, part 2, part 3), I described how I have optimized a long-running set of routines by processing databases, tables, and even subsets of tables in parallel....
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Auditing SQL Server – Part 1 – Discovery and Documentation
Inheriting a server, whether as an inexperienced user or an experienced DBA, has many challenges. It’s very helpful to evaluate the servers, document issues, and record the current configuration. It...
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Effective Strategies for Storing and Parsing XML in SQL Server
XML is a common storage format for data, metadata, parameters, or other semi-structured data. Because of this, it often finds its way into SQL Server databases and needs to be managed alongside other...
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XML Performance Tuning and Added Options
SQL Server provides a variety of ways to tune XML so that it provides consistent performance, consumes less space, all while ensuring efficient access to critical data. At its core, the metadata-styled...
View ArticleIt’s a recovery strategy, not a backup strategy
I’ve talked about it before; you shouldn’t have a backup strategy, you should have a recovery strategy. I can’t possibly care if my backups succeed if I’m not bothering to test that they can be...
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Auditing SQL Server – Part 2 – Hardware Audit
This is the second part of my series on auditing SQL Server. In the first part, I discussed basic server discovery and documentation. It covered some items to check at the hardware level and...
View ArticleIndex cleanup : Harder than it looks
I’m not the first person to write about cleaning up unused or redundant indexes. You can read many articles about how non-clustered indexes are expensive to store and maintain, that they can occupy...
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Auditing SQL Server – Part 3 – SQL Server Configuration Audit
This is the continuation of my series on auditing SQL Server. In the first part, I discussed basic server discovery and documentation. The next section went over server hardware configuration and...
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Days of the Week, Bitwise Edition
I recently had to help support synchronization and distribution of workloads between multiple servers. Some of this work involves Task Scheduler and, be honest, who knew Task Scheduler was this...
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Effective Strategies for Storing and Parsing JSON in SQL Server
Like XML, JSON is an open standard storage format for data, metadata, parameters, or other unstructured or semi-structured data. Because of its heavy usage in applications today, it inevitably will...
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PASS Keynote – Day 1 – Microsoft
In this blog we will be covering all the news and announcements from the 2024 PASS Data Summit Keynote as live as we can get it captured. (And later will refine as much as we can, as capturing the...
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Reading and Writing Parquet Files in SQL Server
When analytic data is stored directly in SQL Server, a clustered columnstore index is an ideal place for that data to reside. It is column-based, highly compressed, and supports a wide variety of...
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T-SQL Tuesday #181: Query Store and its evolution
Query Store. This is my choice in relation to “What feature release made you say WOW!”, the subject of this SQL Tuesday. Query Store: The first release Query Store was first released in SQL Server...
View ArticleFive changes to SQL Server I’d love to see
I’ve had lots of wish lists over the years, from Ladybug to Connect to UserVoice, and very few of my dreams ever come true. Still, it’s fun every once in a while, to be whimsical about the way I...
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A Use Case for Memory-Optimized Tempdb Metadata
I recently had an interesting production SQL Server issue that turned out to be very easy to fix. The fix doesn’t fit every workload or server, but for the limited use cases described below, it’s a...
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Customizing the Export and import of Parquet Files in SQL Server
Previously, we introduced and discussed the Parquet file format and SQL Server and why it is an ideal format for storing analytic data when it does not already reside in a native analytic data store,...
View ArticleAzure SQL Serverless: Discover What’s new and Increase Your Savings
Before jumping into the news and code, let’s start from the beginning: Why does someone use Azure SQL Serverless? The answer is simple: Save money. Considering my personal scenario, I can think about...
View ArticleSQL Server BIT_COUNT and an Alternative
I was editing an article the other day that uses the BIT_COUNT function that was added to SQL Server 2022. The solution presented is excellent, and I will try to come back and link to it here when I...
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Exploring Scalar Solutions to Complex Data Math
There are many functions and tools available to database professionals that can solve data math challenges, regardless of complexity. A recent problem came across my desk that called for not only a...
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SQL Server 2022 CU Updates and Error Code 0x851A0043
I’ve been working in the Azure space for the last few years and less with full server installations. Azure leaves file locations out of my control, but I recently had a client upgrading an on-prem...
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