Stairway to Transaction Log Management in SQL Server, Level 5: Managing the Log in Full Recovery Mode
In FULL recovery mode it is possible to do a point-in-time restore of a database. It is thankfully a rare event. Tony explains what's involved
Stairway to Transaction Log Management in SQL Server, Level 6: Managing the Log in BULK_LOGGED Recovery Model
A DBA may consider switching a database to the BULK_LOGGED recovery model in the short term during, for example, bulk load operations. When a database is operating in the BULK_LOGGED model these, and a few other operations such as index rebuilds, can be minimally logged and will therefore use much less space in the log
Stairway to Transaction Log Management in SQL Server, Level 7: Dealing with Excessive Log Growth
This level will examine the most common problems and forms of mismanagement that lead to excessive growth of the transaction log.
Stairway to Transaction Log Management in SQL Server, Level 9: Monitoring the Transaction Log
Our major goal in terms of log maintenance for all databases under our care is to optimize for write performance, in order to support all activities that require SQL Server to write to the log, including data modifications, data loads, index rebuilds, and so on. However, it's also important to keep an eye on possible log fragmentation, which, as described previously, can affect the performance of processes that need to read the log, such as log backups and the crash recovery process.
Killing a SPID and Checking Rollback progress in SQL Server
From time to time, I encounter blocking situations where I end up issuing a SQL KILL command against the blocking SPID. When I run sp_who2, I can see the killed SPID is in a ROLLBACK state. Is there any way I can get an idea of how long the rollback for the SPID will take?
Create Raw Zone Tables using Generative AI: The Fabric Modern Data Platform
In this first article on the Fabric Modern Data Platform, we look at how to use Generative AI to build tables.
More Linux than Windows
Microsoft announced that Linux runs on more machines in Azure than Windows. Steve isn't surprised and thinks that Linux use will continue to grow.
Understanding UNION and UNION ALL in SQL Server
A short look at the differences in UNION and UNION ALL in a SELECT query.
Using Feature Flags
Feature flags are being used in modern software development. Steve thinks these should also be a staple of database changes.
Introduction to GitHub Actions Part 1: Getting Started
This article series will teach you what you need to know to take advantage of GitHub Actions, especially for deploying database code.
Blogs
Index Maintenance Can Change NORECOMPUTE Settings
By Steve Jones
I had a customer recently ask about a change in one of their constraints...
So You Think You Should Get a Radio
This is not database related, so if you’re not interested in hearing about something...
Speaking at SQL Saturday Austin 2025
By Steve Jones
SQL Saturday Austin 2025 is in just a few days. I am honored to...
Forums
fetch an execution plan from SQL Server's buffer cache
Comments posted to this topic are about the item fetch an execution plan from...
A way for the team to keep track of changes made
Is there a best practice way for the team to keep track of changes...
SQL Query Performance with Left Join
I have a query that is performing poorly It has a left join to...
Question of the Day
The Long Running Backup
I have a long running backup of the Sales database during a maintenance window that is going to take another 2 hours to complete on SQL Server 2022. I also need to perform some proactive work and add another file (ndf) to the Sales database to handle the expected growth of the next month. Can I do both simultaneously?
See possible answers