Every SQL Server developer has heard it: "Don't use NOLOCK in production!" But this common rule isn't as simple as it seems. Sometimes, what seems like a bad practice can actually be the right choice. Let's explain what NOLOCK really does in simple terms. When you use NOLOCK, you're telling SQL Server "just show me […]
2024-12-09
5,124 reads
What is a distributed monolith vs. a microservice architecture? Steve has a few thoughts today.
2024-12-06
159 reads
Let’s say we have a couple of update statements we need to run every 15 minutes in the Stack Overflow database, and we’ve built indexes to support them:
2024-11-20
Learn about different ways to improve the performance of full wild card text searches to find strings in SQL Server tables.
2024-11-01
This article will explore how SQL Server chained CTEs might make troubleshooting code harder and whether you should stop using CTEs altogether.
2024-10-23
Learn how to use the SQL Server Query Store to find CPU-intensive queries and how you can use Query Store to resolve these issues.
2024-10-09
This article explores how raising the Cost Threshold for Parallelism (CTFP) affects missing index recommendations in SQL Server along with examples.
2024-09-25
Steve has a few thoughts on the tradeoff between getting work done quickly and producing well performing code.
2024-09-18
124 reads
In this article, we examine the effect of local variables on T-SQL queries and how these could potentially cause performance issues.
2024-08-23
Steve has a few thoughts on invisible downtime, a term he had never heard until recently.
2024-05-22
201 reads
Slow-running queries can degrade your Redshift cluster’s performance and lead to increased costs. Identifying...
By gbargsley
If you've been here before, you know this blog is usually about SQL Server,...
I’ve been doing storage load tests for SQL Server for a long time, both...
Comments posted to this topic are about the item How Long is a Long...
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In SQL Server 2025, a long I/O is recorded in the error log with message 833. How long much an I/O request be outstanding before this message is written to the log?
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