Problem There’s no doubt that storage is one of the key components to SQL Server performance and availability for both large and small SQL Server instances. With today’s increases in server and virtual server processing power and large-scale memory support,…

This blog post covers sharding a SQL Server database using Azure tools and PowerShell script snippets. Sharding, at its core, is breaking up a single, large database into multiple smaller, self-contained ones. This is usually done by companies that need…

It’s already a fact: cloud is here to stay. As time goes by, we have a better understanding of how it really works as well as its real pros and cons. But here is the most important lesson: We don’t…

Though the nature of applications has changed greatly over the years, some of the basic concepts of working with data are foundational, and do not, or at least should not, change. One of the precepts of Data Modeling is normalization;…

How much sand can you pour through a funnel? Perhaps this is something you have tried to do at some time. If you have, you would have found that to do so successfully it is necessary to control how much…

With the release of Microsoft SQL Server 2017 (SQL Server 2017) comes the ability to run SQL Server on the Linux Operating Systems. With Linux being the platform of choice for millions of application developers this is a smart move by…

Modern cloud IAAS offerings are sold as a fast and convenient way to setup a server without having to worry about purchasing hardware, networking, and basic installation/configuration work. For the most part, I believe this is true, and they’ve fulfilled…

Microsoft SQL Server 2017: Two Useful New Features This week I discovered two new features in Microsoft SQL Server 2017 that I think will be helpful to both developers and DBAs. These are two small changes, but they solve problems…

The mission: Tell every DBA around the world about a secret formula that will give them powers. What power do you think that is? Freedom! Freedom to go work on projects that you want to do versus constantly putting out…

As a SQL Server production DBA, at some point in time you will have to deal with a stack dump. A stack dump is a file that is written to disk with an “.mdmp” extension when SQL Server encounters a…