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Why is My Database Application so Slow?

When your application is running slowly, the reflex action is to blame the database queries. It is certainly true that some of the more extravagant delays can be fairly blamed on a missing index or unnecessary locking, but there are other potential villains in the drama, including the network and the application itself. Dan Turner points out that you could save a lot of time and money by working out for sure where the problems lie before diving into the detail.

2017-11-02

7,358 reads

External Article

Six Scary SQL Surprises

The working life of the DBA can be punctuated by surprises, but they aren't generally nice surprises. This is especially true if the DBA is not checking and monitoring the databases for obvious things such as database corruption, and disk space. However, the really scary surprises are less obvious and provide fewer warning signs. Brent Ozar gives six scary surprises that can be avoided by the shrewd DBA.

2017-10-31

7,099 reads

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Backup SQL Server Databases in Parallel with PowerShell

I have a need to decrease the time my SQL Server database backups are taking to run. I thought about trying to run multiple backups at the same time to see if that would work. I could have created multiple SQL Server Agent Jobs to run at the same time, but I wanted a more dynamic way to handle this, so I created a PowerShell script that allows processes to run in parallel.

2017-10-30

3,911 reads

External Article

The SQL Server Features that Time Forgot

Every new release of SQL Server comes with new features that cause a ripple of excitement within the industry: well, amongst the marketing people anyway. What happens to all the exciting TLAs that are bandied about when a new version launches? It's mixed, it seems. Adam Machanic's classic post, The SQL Hall of Shame, has inspired Rob Sheldon to look back at some of the features that, though worthy, have may have failed to hit the mainstream.

2017-10-27

5,970 reads

External Article

SQL Server R Services: Working with ggplot2 Statistical Graphics

It is when you use R in SQL Server with one of the huge range of packages that comes with it that you can begin to appreciate the power of the system. With a package such as ggplot there are many 'knobs one can twiddle' in order to get spectacular and informative visualisations. Rob Sheldon continues his beginners series for R in SQL Server by showing how to refine the output to get it as you need it.

2017-10-25

3,267 reads

External Article

How to determine SQL Server database transaction log usage

One crucial aspect of all databases is the transaction log. The transaction log is used to write all transactions prior to committing the data to the data file. In some circumstances the transaction logs can get quite large and not knowing what is in the transaction log or how much space is being used can become a problem. So how to you determine how much of the transaction log is being used and what portions are being used?

2017-10-24

4,163 reads

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Question of the Day

Creating JSON III

In a SQL Server 2025 table, called Beer, I have this data: 

BeerIDBeerName
1Becks
2Fat Tire
3Mac n Jacks
4Alaskan Amber
8Kirin
I run this code: 
SELECT JSON_OBJECTAGG(
    BeerID: BeerName )
FROM beer;
What are the results?

See possible answers