Performance tuning

Ranga Babu
adding database to an existing failover group

Azure SQL Server auto-failover groups

July 18, 2019 by

In this article, we will review how to set up auto-failover groups in Azure SQL Server and how failover group is different from active geo-replication in Azure. Auto-failover group is an Azure SQL database feature that replicates one or a group of databases to the secondary Azure SQL server in the cross-region. We cannot have a secondary server in the same region. This feature is used to failover all the databases in the failover group in case of disaster and the failover is automatic.

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Ranga Babu
Geo-Replication

Azure SQL database Geo-Replication

July 15, 2019 by

In this article, we will review how to set up Geo-Replication on Azure SQL databases. Geo-Replication is an Azure SQL database feature that allows you to create a readable secondary database in the same region or cross-region. We can failover to the secondary database in case of an outage for a long time on the primary database server. We can also use this feature to migrate a database from one server to another server in the same or cross region with minimal downtime. Geo-replication uses the Always-on feature to replicate committed transactions to the secondary database asynchronously.

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Rajendra Gupta
Availability group validations

Applying Transaction Logs to the Secondary Replica in SQL Server Always On Availability Groups

July 12, 2019 by

Introduction

SQL Server Always On Availability Groups provides HADR solutions for the SQL databases. Here HA refers to high availability and DR refers to disaster recovery. The priority of this feature is to keep the database highly available and then provide Disaster recovery. Due to this reason, if the secondary replica goes down in a synchronous data commit mode, SQL Server changes commit mode to Asynchronous so that users can continue run the transactions and a secondary replica can be in sync later once it bought up. SQL Listener also points to the primary replica and continues redirects connection to the primary replica.

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Bojan Petrovic

Optimizing SQL Server index strategies

July 2, 2019 by

Index strategies overview

This article is about techniques for optimizing the SQL Server indexes strategy. It is an appendix of the SQL index overview and strategy article in which I covered different areas like what indexes actually do, how to create them, and I briefly mentioned some index design guidelines. Furthermore, I also presented an example of how to design them by tuning and optimizing queries, so I’ve really tried to cover all but there is always more when it comes to SQL Server indexes.

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Sifiso Ndlovu
Data imported using Custom SQL Statement.

Monitor batch statements of the Get Data feature in Power BI using SQL Server extended events

July 1, 2019 by

One shared characteristic among popular data visualization tools such as Power BI is the ease at which data can be extracted from a variety of disparate data sources, usually at a click of a button, as shown in Figure 1. Such convenience, though, tends to come at a cost as you often have little control over how background scripts used to extract data are generated. Yet, this should be of utmost concern for data architects and BI developers alike as rarely do you find auto-generated scripts that are efficient and optimal. In this article, join me as I put on my DBA hat and trace, monitor and review SQL batch statements that are auto-generated by the Get Data feature in Power BI using SQL Server Extended Events.

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Rajendra Gupta
Execution plan and statistics

SQL Server Statistics in Always On Availability Groups

May 27, 2019 by

Introduction to SQL Server Statistics

SQL Server Statistics are an essential part of query performance in SQL Server. They help the query optimizer to prepare a query plan using the distribution of values in participating rows. If we do not have updated statistics, it might lead to resource intensive query execution plan. For example, for a large table having a billion records, SQL may choose to have an index scan instead of an index seek.

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Rajendra Gupta
sql server always on

SQL Server Always On Availability Group Data Resynchronization

May 9, 2019 by

In my previous article Data Synchronization in SQL Server Always On Availability Group, we described a scenario where if a secondary replica goes down in synchronous data commit mode, SQL Server Always on Availability group changes to asynchronous data commit mode. It ensures that users can get their transaction commit irrespective of waiting for a secondary replica to come online.

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Ed Pollack

Methods to Insert Data into SQL Server

April 10, 2019 by

Summary

There are a variety of ways of managing data to insert into SQL Server. How we generate and insert data into tables can have a profound impact on performance and maintainability! This topic is often overlooked as a beginner’s consideration, but mistakes in how we grow objects can create massive headaches for future developers and administrators.

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Ahmad Yaseen
sys.databases result showing log_reuse information

SQL Server Transaction Log Growth Monitoring and Management

April 1, 2019 by

In the previous articles of this series on the SQL Server Transaction Log, we discussed the importance of the SQL Server Transaction Log and the role that it plays in maintaining the database consistency, by ensuring that the committing transactions data will be preserved and the failed transaction will be rolled back. It also helps to recover the database to a specific point in time in case of system or hardware failure. This is achieved by writing a log record to the SQL transaction log file before writing the data pages to the physical data file, using Write-ahead Logging process.

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Ahmad Yaseen
SQL Server Always on Failover Cluster topography

SQL Server Transaction Log and High Availability Solutions

March 21, 2019 by

In the previous article of this series on the SQL Server transaction log, we discuss the SQL Server database recovery models, Full, Simple and Bulk-Logged, and the how the recovery model option of the database affects the way the SQL Server Engine works with the transaction logs. In this article, we will discuss the different types of high availability and disaster recovery solutions and the role of the SQL Server transaction log in these technologies.

Sreekanth Bandarla
Add Roles and Features Wizard - Remote access

Simulating a Multi Subnet cluster for setting up SQL Server Always On Availability Groups – lab setup

March 14, 2019 by

In this article, we are going to see how to create a multi subnet cluster spanning across multiple subnets for lab purposes. Creating such an environment should help creating Availability groups simulating a far replica residing in a different Data Center (Subnet) acting as a disaster recovery site in your lab for learning/experimenting real world scenarios.

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