SQL Server Is Slow – Part 2 of 4(?)
The 10-Minute Outside-In Triage Don’t Blame SQL First It’s 9:05 AM and your helpdesk lights up: “The SQL Server is down. Nothing works.” By 9:07, everyone is staring at...
2025-09-24
17 reads
Kevin3NF
- Interests: Cycling, family, sci-fi, DBA stuff
SQL Server Is Slow (part 1 of 4)
How should you respond when you get the dreaded Email/Slack/Text/DriveBy from someone yelling at you that SQL Server is slow? Stop. Don’t Open SSMS Yet. You’ve heard it...
2025-09-22 (first published: 2025-09-17)
20 reads
SQL Server Failover Cluster Instances
Old Reliable Still Matters If you’ve been around SQL Server for a while, you’ve heard of Failover Cluster Instances (FCIs). They’ve been part of SQL’s high availability toolbox since...
2025-09-19 (first published: 2025-09-03)
183 reads
SQL Server Log Shipping: The Tried and True of DR
It’s not glamorous, but it works In a world where shiny new HA/DR features get all the press, there’s one SQL Server technology that just keeps doing its job....
2025-09-15 (first published: 2025-08-27)
191 reads
SQL Server Availability Groups
Flexibility and Scale at the Database Level When SQL Server 2012 introduced Availability Groups (AGs), they changed the HA/DR game. Unlike Failover Cluster Instances (FCIs), which protect the whole...
2025-09-10
16 reads
SQL Server I/O Bottlenecks: It’s Not Always the Disk’s Fault
“SQL Server is slow.” We’ve all heard it. But that doesn’t always mean SQL Server is the problem. And “slow” means nothing without context and ability to verify. More...
2025-08-27 (first published: 2025-08-06)
487 reads
SQL Server Backups: The Basics
If you’re responsible for a SQL Server instance, you need working, consistent backups. Not just a .bak file here and there, but a plan that runs automatically and covers...
2025-08-20
18 reads
SQL Server Maintenance Plans
If you’re a DBA, sysadmin, IT manager, or Accidental DBA, you’ve probably seen SQL Server’s built-in Maintenance Plans. They live right there in SSMS under the “Management” node, quietly...
2025-08-15 (first published: 2025-07-30)
402 reads
DBCC CHECKDB: Just Because It’s Quiet Doesn’t Mean It’s Safe
Corruption isn’t a “maybe someday” problem – what you need to do now. Stop. Don’t panic. You just ran DBCC CHECKDB for the first time in a while (or...
2025-08-13
16 reads
SQL Server Post-Install Configurations
The SQL Server installer has gotten better: tempdb configuration, MAXDOP, and even max memory can now be configured during setup. But don’t be fooled: there’s still a post-install checklist...
2025-07-23
37 reads
Blogs
SQL Saturday Boston Slides and Code
By Steve Jones
Thanks to everyone who attended my sessions today at SQL Saturday Boston 2025. I’ve...
Scaling SQL Server 2025 Vector Search with Load-Balanced Ollama Embeddings
SQL Server 2025 introduces native support for vector data types and external AI models....
Advice I Like: Fear and Imagination
By Steve Jones
Fear is fueled by a lack of imagination. The antidote to fear is not...
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how to use a variable in a CASE statement?
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How to Use SQL Server Features to Cut Web App Latency in Half
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Choosing an AI in Sept 2025
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Question of the Day
The New SQL Server 2025 Data type
In SQL Server 2025, there is a new data type designed to support similarity search and machine learning applications for AI applications. What is this new data type?
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