Adding In Others For Contrast

In our first part we introduced Pliant and the LS 300 drive. In part 2 we get down to the details. To give a better idea where you stand with the setup described last time I’m throwing in two other storage setups. A RAID… Read more

One of the most important aspects of keeping your system running well is updating and managing your statistics. Since the optimizer relies on statistics to determine the best execution plan it is imperative that you keep an eye on them and maintain them just like you would indexes. One of… Read more

In this installment we are looking at assembling a basic data dictionary from the column level meta data stored in SQL Server. This is a little different from the rest. You can still do quite a bit with the information provided but to leverage this to the fullest requires a… Read more

Come Get Your Learn On!

You heard right, on October 1st 2011 you need to be in Austin, TX. We have finalized our location and spot on the SQLSaturday list. After a rough start to the year I’ve managed to get my core team together and in action, settle my… Read more

Come Get Your Learn On!

You heard right, on October 1st 2011 you need to be in Austin, TX. We have finalized our location and spot on the SQLSaturday list. After a rough start to the year I’ve managed to get my core team together and in action, settle my… Read more

I am a fan of information, the more the merrier. Anytime I’m tasked with tracking a production server over the long haul I try and gather as many data points as I can. You can capture database sizes but when your database blows up in size its nice to be… Read more

That Means What?

If you are like me, you are constantly reading up on the latest hardware. Each site has it’s own… Read more

Continuing to build up our data gathering library we shift our focus to tracking database file growth. This particular procedure compiles both data and log file usage. This is a fundamental aspect of tracking growth over time and being proactive about growing your databases yourself instead of letting the auto… Read more

One of the most important methodologies to date for troubleshooting problems with the SQL Server engine is examining the wait statistics. As with most of the DMV’s provided in SQL Server 2005/2008 sys.dm_os_wait_stats is a cumulative view. To add to my series SQLDIY: Manage and Monitor SQL Server Yourself  here… Read more

“Gotta say it was a good day…”

On The SQL Saturday Circuit

I’ve been speaking at all the regional SQLSaturday events I can go to. I kicked off the year with SQLSaturday #57 in Houston. Then did a turn around to SQLSaturday #63 in Dallas, my second one… Read more

I am very exicted to be speaking at the San Antonio PASS chapter SALSSA! It’s been way to long and I look foward to catching up with Jim Steiner the coordinator. I will be giving my favorite talk Understanding Storage Systems and SQL Server. It has been updated and… Read more

Thanks again to everyone who attended. Technical problems aside I had a great time and there were some great questions!

If you have a question please feel free to contact me, I’ll do my best to answer it.

Slide Deck

Read more

My last in the series on storage and SQL Server is today Wed, Jun 8, 2011 3:00 PM EDT (2:oo PM CST). You can register here if you want to take a deeper look into solid state storage. If you want a solid primer into flash based storage devices this… Read more

I saw 500 faces an rocked them all!

To those who attended my webinar today THANK YOU! If you didn’t…. There is a third one coming on solid state! As always the slide deck is posted here. I’ll be adding this information and some additional details to my ongoing… Read more

Pliant Technology, New Kid On The Block

If you have been reading my storage series, and in particular my section on solid state storage, you know I have a pretty rigid standard for enterprise storage. Several months ago I contacted Pliant Technology about their Enterprise Flash Drives. It… Read more

Yesterday I presented Understanding Storage Systems and SQL Server and had a fantastic time! The crowd was great and was very engaged for the entire 90 minutes and made the time fly. I can’t express how grateful I am to the SQLRally people for putting on a great show and… Read more

I am happy to announce that I’ll be joining Idera’s Advisor & Community Educator for SQL Server program.

Getting More Involved

I’ve always appreciated Idera funding my local PASS chapter and funding SQLSaturday events. Recently the fine folks at Idera have decided to take a more active role in the… Read more

Just a note that I will start my three part webcast, SQL Server, Storage and You next week April 13th at 2PM CST. I’m excited to have this opportunity to speak to a much wider audience on something that I love so much. When Idera approached me last year about… Read more

So,

I actually had a early morning sessions and gave my Solid State Storage talk and had a great time. The audience was awesome asked very smart questions and I didn’t run over time. The guys and gals here in Dallas have put on another great event and it isn’t… Read more

I See Dead Tech….

Knowing when a technology is dying is always a good skill to have. Like most of my generation we weren’t the first on the computer scene but lived through several of it’s more painful transitions. As a college student I was forced to learn antiquated technologies… Read more