If you're noticing a significant drop in performance, as well as frequent index fragmentation, you might have an issue with page splits, especially if your fill factor is set to default on all of your indexes. What Are Page Splits? Page splits occur when there is...
With the release of SQL Server 2022 for mainstream, we checked in with our DBAs to see what they are most excited about in the new version. We have all been waiting patiently for this release and are really happy to see it drop for mainstream support. Parameter...
Is SQL 2016 older than SQL 2005? Or is your outdated SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) lying to you? Sometimes, the most interesting discoveries come from being lazy. Case in point: I was working with a few other DBAs on a client system having issues with...
Multi-GHz processors need maximum memory bandwidth to reach their full potential.SQL Server needs maximum memory bandwidth to reach its full potential. They need to access memory as fast and with as much throughput as possible. A bottleneck develops when processors...
A properly designed virtualized SQL Server instance running in a VM with Windows Server (or Linux), using vSphere is crucial to the successful implementation of enterprise applications. One main difference between designing for performance of critical databases and...
You may see events in your error logs reporting transient connection failures between cluster nodes or AlwayOn. You may observe high Asynch_Network_IO in [sys].[dm_os_wait_stats]. And you may have even brought it to the attention of your Network folks, only to be sent...
When I was learning about Microsoft SQL Server issues a DBA needs to understand, I was reading about deadlocks. At first, I was confused because it sounded like the definition of blocking, which I was already more familiar with. I re-read it a couple of times and...
Deadlocking is a common issue in SQL Server that can have a direct negative impact on your users. What is deadlocking and how can it be resolved? All relational database management systems provide some kind of locking by design. There are times you want a table to be...
The most satisfying meal is the one you make yourself, and database backup jobs are no different. Many DBAs use maintenance plans as a "one-stop-shop" for maintaining their SQL Server databases. After all, they do backups, integrity checks, index maintenance... What...
This checklist outlines the steps I took to migrate SQL Server Always On 2017 Enterprise to 2019 Enterprise edition. Having mixed versions of AG's is a temporary solution meant for upgrading or migration purposes only and is not intended for long term use. Preparing...