Next week I'll be up in Alaska for SQL Cruise, so I'll be skipping at least one digest. This week I gathered a few engine-related issues, two involving what the engine does while an index is being created. The most important one, though, at least IMHO, is the first one […]
At SQLRally, we brought along an iPad to demonstrate that monitoring doesn't have to be web-based to be mobile. We fielded a lot of questions about this, the most common one being, "Whoa, is that native?" No, it was not native… we were using remote desktop (RDP). While yes, it […]
In 2013, the PASS Summit will move from Seattle, which it has called home in 2003, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012, to the warmer climes of Charlotte, North Carolina. (Read the official PASS announcement.) There are a lot of big benefits to this move: folks in the eastern […]
Not that my preferences really mean a hill of beans to anyone else, but since I've asked for your vote on my sessions, I'd also like to share the list of sessions that I've marked as "preferred" so far. Now, since we have no idea what the schedule will be, […]
I received a lot of grief at SQLRally when it was revealed that I have never submitted to speak at the annual PASS Summit. Well, this year, I did submit. So if you are planning on going, and you'd like to see me speak about SQL Server "Denali" or about […]
Today Microsoft has released cumulative updates for both SQL Server 2008 SP1 and SQL Server 2008 SP2. SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1 KB #2527187 : Cumulative Update #14 for SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1 There are 10 fixes listed for this update, and the build # is 10.00.2821. […]
Every few days I see the following question being asked on #sqlhelp, on forums, or in person at various SQL-related events: <div style="padding: 10px 20px; background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(238, 238, 238); font-size: 12px; font-family: georgia, times; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous;"><b><i>Q: When will Denali be released?</i></b></div></td></tr></table> A barrage of similar […]
This week we're going to take a look at issues with filtered indexes. This feature was a very welcome addition in SQL Server 2008 and has enjoyed widespread usage if conversations on twitter and forums are any indication. But their implementation is not perfect – bugs in SSMS and numerous […]
Yesterday I spoke at SQLRally in Orlando on new engine and tools features in the next version of SQL Server – codenamed Denali. We nearly filled the room with 70+ people, and I got to hand out a slew of cool giveaways from the SQL Server team – coffee decanters, […]
This week we're going to look at some issues involving tempdb… Provide a tempdb per database #176241 : Eliminating TempDb By Adding Temp Filegroup to Each Database#281202 : multiple tempdb For these two requests, I am hoping that the Contained Databases feature (which I've talked about multiple times) will get […]
This afternoon I was working on a little PowerShell script to collect some PerfMon counters. I borrowed some code from myself, and had counters represented in strings like the following (this is a greatly simplified version): Get-Counter -Counter "\SQLServer:Wait Statistics(Average wait time (ms))\Lock waits" The above code is for a […]
This week, after seeing a lot of the DMV enhancements made in SQL Server 2008 R2 SP1, I thought I would take a look at some dynamic management view/function requests. Page split personality Michael Zilberstein blogged on Monday about how Extended Events and the transaction log differ in the way […]