It’s always parameter sniffing (part 1?)
This is a blog post about a perennial issue. Have you ever had a call in the middle of the...
2019-01-28 (first published: 2019-01-16)
3,029 reads
My alternative to sp_WhoIsActive
I use sp_WhoIsActive a lot. I’m extremely grateful for Adam Machanic writing it. It has tons of options that let...
2019-01-28
5,081 reads
Memory Grants part 6: Memory used in aggregate functions (Min/Max/etc)
So far in this series, I’ve been focusing on the Sort operator. It’s pretty easy for demos since I can...
2019-01-25
678 reads
The Execution plan comparison feature (in SSMS)
Did you know that you can compare two execution plans in SQL Server Management?
It’s really cool. I use it a...
2019-01-25
991 reads
SQL Server Monitoring: What to start measuring
So you’ve got a SQL Server that you want to monitor. What should you monitor? In my opinion, at bare...
2019-01-22 (first published: 2019-01-14)
2,656 reads
Memory Grants part 4: The Resource Semaphore
Part of query memory grants, part 4! This post will cover the wait type RESOURCE_SEMAPHORE briefly, but the focus is...
2019-01-21
1,042 reads
New page on this blog: Contact Me
This is not a technical post! Just wanted to say that I set up a public email address for this...
2019-01-19
132 reads
When the query plan hash is deceptive
When you’re querying the plan cache, you need to know the four primary objects: the query hash, query plan hash,...
2019-01-17
756 reads
Execution plans: RetrievedFromCache
I first came across the value for RetrievedFromCache when I was reading a confusing execution plan. At first, I thought...
2019-01-11
688 reads
Why is the query hash so useful?
An example of how I use the query hash
I wrote a blog on what the query hash is, right here....
2019-01-10
6,460 reads
Blogs
Claude Code Helps Analyze Test Data Manager Log Files
By Steve Jones
I had a customer ask about analyzing their Test Data Manager (TDM) usage to...
PowerPoint to HTML with Claude AI
By Steve Jones
I had an idea for an animated view of a sales tool, and started...
Don’t Miss Out – SQL Server Query Tuning Fundamentals Starts Next Monday!
Next Monday, February 9, 2026, my one-day live online training SQL Server Query Tuning...
Forums
Why the following cmds in sequence do not work
I need to delete rows from both the temporal main and history tables. The...
When SQL Server Central Went Down
Comments posted to this topic are about the item When SQL Server Central Went...
The String Distance I
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The String Distance I
Question of the Day
The String Distance I
In SQL Server 2025, what is returned by this code:
SELECT EDIT_DISTANCE('tim', 'tom')
Assume preview features are enabled. See possible answers