SQL Server management, tutorials, scripts, coding, programming and tips for database administrators

MS SQL

Azure SQL Database Business Continuity Enhancements 08/06/2018

Marcin Policht provides an overview of a number of new features that facilitate Azure SQL Database business continuity.

How to Resize tempdb 08/02/2018

When you are setting up a new SQL Server machine you need to determine how big you should make tempdb. To make sure you size tempdb appropriately you should monitor the tempdb space usage. If there are autogrowth events occurring after you have recycled SQL Server than you might want to increase the size of your tempdb data files. If tempdb never uses most of the tempdb space, then you might want to consider decreasing the size of tempdb.

How to Remove Transparent Data Encryption From a Database 08/02/2018

There may be a time when you want to turn off transparent data encryption on one of your TDE enabled databases. In this tip, Greg Larsen shows you how simple it is to remove Transparent Data Encryption.

Steps to Migrate Oracle Database to Azure SQL Database 07/23/2018

Many organizations are looking at the prospect of a technology migration, where capabilities are moved to a new set of technologies, supporting and enabling the business of the future. Anoop Kumar lays out the steps that can be followed to migrate an on-premise Oracle database to the SQL Server cloud database, Azure SQL Database.

Introduction to Azure Cosmos DB Global Distribution 07/05/2018

Global distribution of updatable data stores is one of the more challenging goals that software designers and architects have been struggling with over the years. Addressing this challenge has become increasingly pressing as the rapid growth of cloud technologies increased the need for deployments capable of spanning multiple geographical areas. In this article, we will provide an introduction to global distribution-related functionality in Cosmos DB.

Placing a Mark in SQL Server's Transaction Log for Fall Back 07/02/2018

How many times have you had a programmer come to you and say they want you (the DBA) to restore their database to sometime prior to when they accidentally corrupted it? If you are doing FULL transaction logging you can do a point in time recovery to restore the database to just prior to when the corruption occurred. But in order to do that you need to know exactly when the programmer corrupted the data, which in a lot of cases is not known down to the second.

Using SQL Server's Default Trace to Identify Autogrow Events in tempdb 07/02/2018

We all know that you should try to size tempdb appropriately, so it doesn’t need to autogrow shortly after starting up SQL Server. It isn’t always easy to do this. Therefore, when you first implement a new server and/or add new databases you should monitor the autogrowth events on tempdb. By monitoring the autogrowth events you can easily determine if you have sized tempdb appropriately.

Automatic Query Performance Tuning in SQL Server Database 06/28/2018

SQL Server's Automatic Tuning provides insight into possible query performance problems, recommends solutions, and provides options to fix identified problems either manually or automatically.

Azure SQL Database and GDPR Compliance 06/07/2018

In recent years, technology landscape has undergone dramatic changes, driven primarily by cloud computing and a continuously increasing level of attention dedicated to security, privacy, and compliance. One of the more significant initiatives that attempts to address these challenges is General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR. In this article, we will explore how Azure SQL Database could help with addressing the GDPR requirements.

Databases with MAXSIZE Set 06/04/2018

When a database grows to the MAXSIZE the database will not grow anymore and if someone tries to add more rows they will get an error saying the database is full. Greg Larsen shows you how to find all database files that have their max_size set.

Indexes That Have Not Been Used but Are Being Updated 06/04/2018

We all know indexes are important for improving your query performance, but to store and maintain indexes SQL Server requires disk space and compute resources. If you have indexes that are not being used, they are costing you valuable resources and causing your update statements to run longer. Those updates run longer because they have to maintain those unused indexes. If your application is not using an index, then there is no value in having that index. Read on to learn more.

Adaptive Query Processing in SQL Server 05/21/2018

Adaptive query processing is the latest query processing feature introduced in the SQL Server database engine, available in SQL Server (starting with SQL Server 2017 (14.x)) and Azure SQL Database. Read on to learn more.

Introduction to Azure Cosmos DB Security 05/07/2018

Deployment of cloud-based technologies introduces a wide range of challenges; however, few of them are scrutinized to the same extent as security. When analyzing security-related challenges, it is important to note that they encompass several distinct but interrelated technologies, including authentication and authorization, network isolation, as well as data integrity and confidentiality. In this article, we will explore how these concepts apply to the Azure Cosmos DB offering.

Tables Without Clustered Indexes 05/03/2018

Do all of your tables contain clustered indexes? Some say every table should have a clustered index. Greg Larsen shares a simple script to identify those tables in your database that don’t have a clustered index.

Why Are You Dropping and Recreating Your Indexes? 05/03/2018

Why are you dropping and recreating your indexes, when you could just disable and then rebuild them? By disabling an index, you have basically turned off the index, but have allowed SQL Server to retain the index definition in the database metadata. If you want the index back all you need to do is rebuild the index.