AMD had their 2012 Financial Analyst Day today, which is basically a dog and pony show for stock analysts.

Previously, AMD had talked about introducing a new G2012 platform in 2012/2013, which would use 10 and 20-core processors called Sepang and Terramar. Those plans have been cancelled, and what we…

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Since Microsoft recently released a couple of new Cumulative Updates for SQL Server 2008, I thought it was finally time to release a new version of my SQL Server 2008/2008 R2 Diagnostic Information Queries for January 2012. You will need VIEW SERVER STATE permission for most of these queries,… Read more

I recently ran into a production instance of SQL Server 2005 SP2 (Build 3042) that is running in a two node, single instance fail-over cluster, running on Windows Server 2003 R2 SP2. As you may be aware, this entire stack is out of Mainstream support from Microsoft (both the OS… Read more

On Friday, January 6, 2012, I got the opportunity to present an expanded version of my “Scaling SQL Server” presentation down in Colorado Springs. I think it went pretty well, and I got some nice feedback from the attendees. Being in a smaller room gives you a much better opportunity… Read more

Somewhat unnoticed during the holiday season, HP has submitted a new TPC-E benchmark for the DL385 G7 two socket database server, equipped with two 32nm 2.6GHz AMD Opteron 6282SE processors. This system, with 256GB of RAM and 84 spindles (in two Violin Memory Systems V3205 Flash Memory arrays Read more

Here is a fresh set of diagnostic information queries for SQL Server 2008 and 2008 R2 for December 2011. Some of the queries (which are labeled) will only work with SQL Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 or later. Most of the queries will also work with SQL Server 2012,… Read more

On December 19, 2011, Microsoft released SQL Server 2008 R2 RTM Cumulative Update 11 (CU11), which is Build 10.50.1807.0. I count 22 fixes in this Cumulative Update. This CU is only for the SQL Server 2008 R2 RTM branch, so it will not work if you have already installed SQL… Read more

On December 19, 2011, Microsoft released SQL Server 2008 R2 SP1 Cumulative Update 4 (CU4), which is Build 10.50.2796. I count 52 fixes in the fix list for this Cumulative Update, which is an unusually high number for a CU. Keep in mind that this CU is only for SQL… Read more

Since the final RTM release of SQL Server is getting ever closer, I thought it was a good time to release an updated version of my SQL Server 2012 Diagnostic Information Queries. These queries are meant to be used with SQL Server 2012, but many of them will also… Read more

One of my favorite free tools for getting some processor and memory specific information from a Windows computer (whether is is a laptop or a database server), is CPU-Z.  It gives you a lot of very useful, accurate information about your processor(s) and memory, including what the current core speed… Read more

I will be presenting a day long preconference session on Scaling SQL Server for SQLSaturday #104 on Friday, January 6, 2012 from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM (MT) in Colorado Springs, CO. This will be a revised and expanded version of the half-day session I gave at the PASS 2011…

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Since Microsoft is moving to core-based licensing for SQL Server 2012 Enterprise Edition, with a minimum of four physical core licenses per physical socket, I have had a few questions about what is the “best” quad-core processor to choose for SQL Server 2012 (in order to minimize your SQL… Read more

SQLRockstar Thomas LaRock has updated his blogger rankings this month, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that he had moved me up from the Model group to the Master group. This is quite an honor, since Thomas spends quite a bit of time monitoring and evaluating the content from… Read more

Microsoft has released a hotfix for a very frustrating issue that plagued me for a couple of years at NewsGator.  I recently became reacquainted with this old problem with Error: 18056, Severity: 20, State: 29. Basically what happens is that a SQL Server 2008 or 2008 R2 database server… Read more

I am going to be one of the speakers at the Spring 2012 SQL Server Connections Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. This conference will be held from March 26-29, 2012, and you can register here. The banner on the conference web page says “We are excited to host one… Read more

Microsoft has released SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 3 Cumulative Update 2, which is Build 10.00.5768.00. I count only 3 fixes in this CU. As I always do, I want to remind everyone that this CU is only for SQL Server 2008 SP2, not for SQL Server 2008 R2.… Read more

Microsoft has released SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 2 Cumulative Update 7, which is Build 10.00.4323.00. I count 18 fixes in this CU, several of which are related to Full-Text indexes. If you are still on the SQL Server 2008 SP2 branch, I would be thinking about getting on… Read more

A couple of interesting developments this week. First, Intel has officially released (and lifted the embargo) on their new high-end, Sandy Bridge-E desktop processors that use the LGA 2011 platform and X79 chipset. This is relevant for SQL Server professionals because Sandy Bridge-E is a binned version of the upcoming… Read more

Back in 1997, when the Mars Pathfinder bounced down on Mars on July 4, releasing the little Sojourner rover to move around the Martian surface, I became interested in Astronomy. I was living in an apartment in Foothill Ranch, California, stuck in an area with quite a bit of light… Read more

Last week, Microsoft announced some pretty fundamental changes in how SQL Server 2012 will be licensed compared to previous versions of SQL Server. With SQL Server 2012, there will be three main Editions of SQL Server. These are Enterprise Edition, Business Intelligence Edition, and Standard Edition. Data Center Edition and… Read more