Comparing two query plans

This month my friend Michael J Swart(b/t) would like us to talk about the new 2016 version of SQL Server....

Help! My backup file has doubled in size.

Help! I backed up my database yesterday and the backup file was about 200MB but today it’s closer to 400!...

Using LEN wrong.

I was reading someone’s question the other day on StackExchange and while the existing comments/questions solved the OP’s (original poster)...

Comparing the contents of two tables Redux

I did a post the other day on comparing two tables. It was meant as a general overview but I...

I need help with DBCC

Many years ago during an interview I was asked to “Name the top 7 DBCC commands that you use.” I...

Master_Views: master_objects, master_tables, etc

There is a highly useful system view called sys.master_files. If you’ve never encountered it before it returns a list of...

I hate saying no

I really do. There is a joke that DBAs say no to everything and there is some truth to that....

Connecting to Azure SQL Database

Recently I created my first Azure SQL Database. But now I need to connect to it.
You can connect using...

RAID your backups

Let’s start with a very brief definition of some RAID levels.
RAID 0 : Stripe your data across multiple disks. Writing a...

Re-Evaluating Best Practices

I was reading a blog post from my friend Randolph West (b/t) on Best Practices and a thought struck me.

Starting...