Why is as important as How

I recently had someone tell me, and I’m paraphrasing a bit here: We know how to fix this now, so ... Continue reading

Constructing a datetime from an integer date and an integer time.

Occasionally I’ve seen date and time stored separately as integers. This had some practical applications back before we had date ... Continue reading

How I Troubleshoot SQL Server Execution Plans

Watch this week's video on YouTube

Part 1: Introduction to Execution Plans
Part 2: Overview of Statistics
Part 3: Reading an Execution Plan
Part 4: Commonly Troublesome Operators
Part 5: Troubleshooting Execution Plans

Today I'm...

How I Troubleshoot SQL Server Execution Plans

Watch this week's video on YouTube

Part 1: Introduction to Execution Plans
Part 2: Overview of Statistics
Part 3: Reading an Execution Plan
Part 4: Commonly Troublesome Operators
Part 5: Troubleshooting Execution Plans

Today I'm...

Using Azure Automation to Shut Down a VM only if a SQL Agent Job is Not Running.

I have a client who uses MDS (Master Data Services) and SSIS (Integration Services) in an Azure VM. Since we only need to execute the SQL Agent job that...

Certifications are a Bonus, Not A Path to Employment

I’ve never been terribly shy about my beliefs about IT certifications. I sincerely believe they are largely a waste of time. I do recognize that one thing they do...

Git Command Line Tutorial with SQL Change Automation for SSMS (video)

I’m really excited for Redgate’s new SQL Change Automation plugin for SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS). SQL Change Automation lets DBAs and developers use a migrations-first approach to create...

Jenkins in a Container

One of the things I needed to do recently was get Jenkins running as a demo for a customer. We have some pre-built VMs to do this, but I...

SQL Server Execution Plan Operators

Watch this week’s Execution Plan Operators episode on YouTube. SQL Server Execution Plan Operators When examining a query’s execution plan, certain operators tend to crop up over and over...

Performance Tuning Steps Query by looking an execution plan and effectiveness of the index Part 2

How to read execution plan to improve poorly...
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