In this article Randy Dyness shows you how to avoid temp tables whenever to maximize the performance of your queries.   Read more...

Using hints in a query is something that most DBAs don't ever seem to bother with, but when they do, NOLOCK seems to be their hint of choice. Wayne Fillis brings us a detailed examination of how this particular hint actually affects the performance of your system.   Read more...

Using hints in a query is something that most DBAs don't ever seem to bother with, but when they do, NOLOCK seems to be their hint of choice. Wayne Fillis brings us a detailed examination of how this particular hint actually affects the performance of your system.   Read more...

A series of tips on optimizing XML in your SQL Server databases.   Read more...

Using hints in a query is something that most DBAs don't ever seem to bother with, but when they do, NOLOCK seems to be their hint of choice. Wayne Fillis brings us a detailed examination of how this particular hint actually affects the performance of your system.   Read more...

Gathering performance data on your servers can be a cumbersome task without paying for an expensive tool. New author Jambu Krishnamurthy brings us a short tutorial on how you can gather this data from Perfmon and import it into SQL Server for reporting.   Read more...

Dealing with text, image, and other large object data types can be confusing for many people, in all aspects of working with them. However one place that is important is performance. SQL Server MVP Simon Sabin brings us a few thoughts on improving performance with these columns and the Text in Row setting.   Read more...

Performance Tuning can be as much an art as a science when working with SQL Server, but there are many fine techniques that can help you get started. New author Michael Morin brings a great new technique helping you get started on determining where the heavy I/O users are in your database.   Read more...

In this article Randy Dyness shows you how to avoid temp tables whenever to maximize the performance of your queries.   Read more...

Joe discusses why he prefers command line tools over GUI, then launches into a how-to about querying sysperfinfo to resolve performance issues. Couple nice sample queries included!   Read more...

One thing that often amazes me is that many SQL Server developers do not actually measure the performance of their queries. Many of them thought that you needed external tools, more or less complicated, to run against your server, and they did not have the time or inclination to learn and try these. This article will describe a couple of much easier methods of measuring performance of queries.   Read more...

How many of you use Execution Plans to tune your queries? Do you understand the impact of different indexes? Mr. Vijayakumar looks at his experiments with different types of indexes and their effects on the execution plan use. A great article for those of you that want to learn more about how you can tune your server for better performance.   Read more...

One of the best ways to reduce the load on your server and increase application responsiveness is to reduce the number of "round trips" your application makes. This article by Andy Warren shows you a few ways to increase your performance by reducing round trips.   Read more...

One of the biggest performance gains built into SQL Server is the stored procedure. In this article by Brian Kelley, he shows you how to fully utilize, debug and monitor the caching of such objects.   Read more...

Just because a column has an index doesn't mean the SQL Server Query Analyzer will use it. Learn how to create indexes SQL Server will use.   Read more...

SQL Server showplan is a great tool for analyzing queries and determining whether or not more performance tuning needs to be done. However working with showplan can be confusing and it takes some practice to learn the ins and outs of what is occurring. Joseph Sack looks at showplan and seven of the main things that he is aware of when looking at the results. If you've rarely or never used showplan, this is a great article to get started in learning how an experienced DBA views the output.   Read more...

How can you tell if your code if performing well? Do you know what you want to look for when starting to analyze code? Here's an article from Leo Peysakhovich that looks at some of the things that you can use at a high level to improve the performance of your code.   Read more...

How many of you use Execution Plans to tune your queries? Do you understand the impact of different indexes? Mr. Vijayakumar looks at his experiments with different types of indexes and their effects on the execution plan use. A great article for those of you that want to learn more about how you can tune your server for better performance.   Read more...

One thing that often amazes me is that many SQL Server developers do not actually measure the performance of their queries. Many of them thought that you needed external tools, more or less complicated, to run against your server, and they did not have the time or inclination to learn and try these. This article will describe a couple of much easier methods of measuring performance of queries.   Read more...

New Author! Jeff had some questions about fill factors - but no answers! He did some work and came up with a set of recommendations for how and when to set your fill factors to something other than the default.   Read more...

Using hints in a query is something that most DBAs don't ever seem to bother with, but when they do, NOLOCK seems to be their hint of choice. Wayne Fillis brings us a detailed examination of how this particular hint actually affects the performance of your system.   Read more...

Performance Tuning can be as much an art as a science when working with SQL Server, but there are many fine techniques that can help you get started. New author Michael Morin brings a great new technique helping you get started on determining where the heavy I/O users are in your database.   Read more...

Gathering performance data on your servers can be a cumbersome task without paying for an expensive tool. New author Jambu Krishnamurthy brings us a short tutorial on how you can gather this data from Perfmon and import it into SQL Server for reporting.   Read more...