Unlocking High-Concurrency Inserts in SQL Server with OPTIMIZE_FOR_SEQUENTIAL_KEY
Learn how a setting an improve high concurrency inserts with the OPTIMIZE_FOR_SEQUENTIAL_KEY option.
2025-10-01
7,421 reads
Chandan Shukla
When Page Prefetching Takes a Back Seat – Exploring Trace Flag 652 in SQL Server
Learn how a trace flag affects SQL Server reading from disk and where this might be a useful thing for you to enable.
2025-09-24
2,562 reads
Stairway to Azure SQL Hyperscale – Level 2: Page Server Architecture Explained
In Level 2 of the Stairway to Hyperscale, we learn about Page Servers in more detail.
2025-09-17
959 reads
Revisiting SQL Server Window Functions- A Practical Walkthrough
A look at window functions in SQL and how they can be used to query data without the restrictions of a GROUP BY.
2025-09-12
7,416 reads
Introduction of Azure SQL Hyperscale: Stairway to Azure SQL Hyperscale Level 1
In Level 1 of the Stairway to Azure SQL Hyperscale, we learn about the architecture and create a hyperscale instance.
2025-09-03
4,893 reads
Advanced SQL Server Page Forensics: Detecting Page Splits and Allocations with DBCC PAGE
Page splits are an often-overlooked performance killer in SQL Server. In this article, we take a forensic look at how serial inserts differ from mid-table inserts, revealing why inserting rows out of order causes hidden page splits, increased IO, and fragmentation. Using a wide-column table, we demonstrate both scenarios and decode their impact with page-level analysis.
2025-09-02 (first published: 2025-08-05)
2,882 reads
Deprecated but Forgotten: Why SQL Server’s Text, NText, and Image Data Types Still Haunt Your Systems
TEXT, NTEXT, and IMAGE columns have been deprecated for nearly two decades, yet they still silently haunt many SQL Server environments. This article explains their hidden limitations with practical demos and shows why migrating to VARCHAR(MAX), NVARCHAR(MAX), and VARBINARY(MAX) is critical for modern performance, maintainability, and future upgrades.
2025-09-02 (first published: 2025-08-06)
3,873 reads
How to safely and surgically restore filegroups
Most DBAs are familiar with full and differential ...
2025-09-02 (first published: 2025-08-01)
1,183 reads
What is Delayed Durability in SQL Server — And Should You Turn It On?
Learn about delayed durability in SQL Server and how it might help you with a heavily loaded server.
2025-08-29
9,384 reads
From Rows to Pages: The Hidden Chaos Behind SQL Server’s Sampling Methods
Learn about the TABLESAMPLE option in T-SQL and uncover some of the pitfalls of assuming this works as you think it does.
2025-08-22
2,407 reads
Blogs
The Book of Redgate: Fun with Images
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Why companies use Palantir and how we help implement it in the Czech Republic
Discover how Palantir connects enterprise data, supports AI-driven decision-making and helps companies turn insights...
Why companies use Palantir and how we help implement it in the Czech Republic
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Pay for Performance
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My PASS Summit West 2026
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Packing and Decoding Device Status Codes with LEFT_SHIFT() and RIGHT_SHIFT() in SQL Server
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Packing and Decoding Device Status...
Question of the Day
SQL Server Audit Failures
If I have a SQL Server Server Audit setup, what are my options for configuring the instance in the event it can't write to the audit log?
See possible answers