How can you quickly and easily compare recordsets from different instances? This article will show you a quick way to do this with PowerShell.  Read more...

This article has a description of an index utilization tool that Ron Johnson uses to analyze the effectiveness and use of indexes in a system.  Read more...

Instant file initialization also has its advantages when you restore a SQLServer database. This article will show you why.  Read more...

Database administrators tend to perform a lot of routine checks, referred to as sanity checks, on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. Rob Gravelle shows you how to write some PowerShell scripts to automate a couple of fairly common sanity checks.  Read more...

Snapshot isolation levels improve performance but there are some things to take into consideration when using this feature. Arshad Ali discusses what snapshot isolation levels are, their variants, and why and when we should use them.  Read more...

This article decribes how defragementing a 900 GB drive assisted in addressing major performance issues on a reporting server.  Read more...

I have transactional replication configured in production. I have heard about the replication retention period, but what is the significance of this. Would there be any impact to my replication configuration if data is not synchronized with the subscriptions within the retention period?  Read more...

Do you understand the value of your time? I mean really understand it. Time is your absolute number one most valuable asset. Once it's gone, that's it, gone forever.  Read more...

In this article we’re going to look at instant file initialization. What it is, why it’s cool and how you can use it in your environments.  Read more...

There are around seventy SQL Server instance settings, and a DBA needs to be aware of the effect that many of them have. Brad McGehee explains them in enough detail to help with most common configuration problems, and suggests some best practices.  Read more...

This script leverages master.sys.server_principals and xp_logininfo to return accounts, domain groups, and members in a SQL Server admin fixed role.  Read more...

A great article that should answer all your questions about the transaction log from MVP Gail Shaw. A must read for all DBAs.  Read more...

Recently I encountered a situation where the backup drive was short of space on the production server. The policy on the production server was that as soon as soon as the Full Backup is complete, a copy of the production backup is transferred to the staging server using RoboCopy  Read more...

Using Powershell to create color coded backup reports for all servers in your environment.  Read more...

This article talks about why SHRINKFILE is a very bad thing, and what to do about it if you must shrink a database file.  Read more...

A table that does not have a clustered index is referred to as a Heap. While a lot has been written about index fragmentation and how to defrag indexes, there is not much that talks about how to defrag a heap table.  Read more...

It's easy to create a database nowadays with point-'n-click, but if you've left your database's autogrowth settings at their default, you may hit problems in the future. Why? What to do about it? Read on!  Read more...

This article will help to get some basic information from your databases that may help you in different situations.  Read more...

Today Steve responds to a blog post from Microsoft that talks about the viability of placing our database files on network shares.  Read more...

Enabling TDE is simple to do, but it can be more complex when you look to remove the feature from SQL Server. Steve Perry brings you a procedure you can use to help you.  Read more...