Disaster After Disaster
A disaster can easily lead to another disaster. Can you respond to multiple problems? Have you even considered the cascade effects of a large disaster?
In The Real World - Disaster!
A real world account of disaster recovery. (This article is being republished after the recent hurricane that hit the US East Coast).
Handling Backups for Rapid Resilience
The backup and restore system in SQL Server hasn't changed a great deal over the years despite a huge growth in the typical size of databases. When disaster strikes, and an important service is taken offline while a restore is performed, there is often time to reflect on whether it might be possible to design databases for a more rapid recovery of the most critical parts of a database application.
Departures from Origins and Arrivals at Destinations
A suggested design for creating flight schedules makes querying easy. Includes basic airport and airlines data. Get started now with this tricky query problem.
Test Your Restores
Part of an effective response to a disaster situation is practice and testing of your skills and procedures. Steve Jones reminds us this is important today.
SQL Server Backup Questions We Were Too Shy to Ask
During presentations about doing database backups and restores, there seem to be two two types of questions that are commonly asked, Those that come from the floor during the presentation, and those that are asked in private afterwards. These are sometimes more interesting, and challenging to answer well.
Data Distribution with SQL Server Replication
This paper provides a foundation for understanding data replication as well as a discussion of the criteria for selecting an appropriate replication technology.
Grace Under Pressure
When a disaster strikes, how will you respond? Will you not only successfully recover, but will you do so with professionalism and grace under pressure? Steve Jones tells you how you can.
What Counts for a DBA: Being Replaceable
Louis Davidson describes why all DBAs should strive to be replaceable, and what that really means.
What’s in YOUR Recovery Plan?
Author Craig Outcalt gives advice on preparing for the worst with a look at what you should consider putting in your disaster recovery plan and why.
Blogs
“We love to debate minutiae”
By Brian Kelley
I am guilty as charged. The quote was in reference to how people argue...
Advice I Like: Knots
By Steve Jones
Learn how to tie a bowline knot. Practice in the dark. With one hand....
Shifting Mindsets: Why FinOps is Essential for Cloud Efficiency
By HeyMo0sh
As a DevOps practitioner, I’ve always focused on performance, scalability, and automation. But as...
Forums
Windows logins for users migrated from DomainA to DomainB
Hi, I have a SQL Server instance where users connect to via Windows Authentication,...
Multiple Deployment Processes
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Multiple Deployment Processes
How to Use sqlpackage to Detect Schema Drift Between Azure SQL Databases
Comments posted to this topic are about the item How to Use sqlpackage to...
Question of the Day
Upgrading Admin Queries
I have a query from a former DBA that we run on SQL Server 2025 to check on database metadata. This query references sys.sysaltfiles. I want to refactor this code to be more modern. Which DMV should I reference instead?
See possible answers