Introduction There are two main options in Azure to handle SQL databases: Azure SQL Database. SQL Server on Azure VM. In this chapter, we will talk about the advantages and disadvantages of each option.
Securing and encrypting sensitive data stored in your production databases is a big concern, especially the databases storing the organization’s financial data and customers’ confidential information. SQL Server offers multiple encryption methods in the cell, table and database levels. And in this article, we are interested in a SQL Server database encryption method, introduced in […]
Introduction When you have thousands of SQL Servers, it is very hard to administer all of them. This article will show some tips to help you with these types of tasks. In this new article, we will show how to run T-SQL scripts against multiple Servers using SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS). To do this, […]
Backup and recovery are some of the most important DBA tasks, although they look simple enough and usually you setup them, leave them running on schedule and only come back if they fail – there is a whole new world in regards to optimization you can do to make them faster, better and … smaller. […]
Introduction PowerShell (aka Posh or just PS) is becoming more and more of a tool for operational support and some deployment scenarios. If you need to pull or place data into SQL Server, PS can be a handy way of doing it in both one-off and automated work. There are a number of ways to […]
Introduction One of the primary functions of a Business Intelligence team is to enable business users with an understanding of data created and stored by business systems. Understanding the data should give business users an insight into how the business is performing. A typical understanding of data within an insurance industry could relate to measuring […]
The Problem Checking the many SQL Servers health conditions is one of the DBA basic tasks. Monitoring many servers and databases, day after day can be a very tedious job. There are many aspects to look for when checking the server performance figures. Such aspects include among others: CPU, Read and Write Disk counters, Various […]
Introduction As DBA’s we usually have a lot of utility scripts sitting around that we use in our daily work. Examples might include things like common administrative duties (setting up users for an application for example), installing standardized maintenance routines, or even something as complex as a home grown utility database. Often times these scripts […]
Introduction The Query Store is a new feature in SQL Server 2016 that will greatly improve the process of performance tuning! The biggest limit of the query plan cache and the dynamic management views that relates to it is that it is very temporary. Queries are only accessible for as long as they are in […]
Along with the release of SQL server 2016 CTP 3 now comes the preview of a brand new feature for on premise databases – the Query Store. This feature enables performance monitoring and troubleshooting through the log of executed queries. This blogpost will cover the following aspects of the Query Store feature: Introduction How to […]
Azure is a simple and cheap way to have a Database. You can rent your Azure Database of 2 GB per 5 USD per month. That is a very cheap price. You can also administer your Database from your Android or your iPhone, which is very interesting. It is also possible to create your Windows […]
Here we are with the last part of this series of articles! In this article we are going to see two curiosities: How does in-memory OLTP work with Availability Group? Can I migrate from Log Shipping or Database Mirroring to Availability Groups? So, let’s start!
Introduction In this new chapter, we will show how to use the Microsoft Portal to monitor the Virtual Machines with SQL Server Installed. We will show how to do it with the current Portal and the New Microsoft Azure Portal. We will check how to monitor performance, watch the logs, review the settings and change […]
With the release of SQL Server 2016 also comes a great new feature to get a live view of the current execution plan for an active query. This blogpost will cover the aspects of this new feature including: Introduction How to activate How to use and read the output Downsides – if any
Introduction Have you ever felt like pulling your hair out, trying to ascertain exactly which fields in your existing Reporting Services datasets are being utilized by your reports. This happened to me recently during a corporate conversion and cleanup exercise for a database migration to the cloud. The “aha moment” came after having presented a […]
The purpose of security auditing is to identify all attacks, unlawful or malicious activities which might be taking place on your server. Criminals have become increasingly inventive and as a DBA you might not have considered or even be aware of all activities which may be putting your data at risk.
Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) SQL Server has two ways of encrypting data. One way is by protecting data on the table, record or column level, and the other way is by protecting data “at the rest”. One of the best crypto features in the database world today is known as a Transparent Data Encryption.
Do you know that you can store system and user databases in a fileshare? Even for a clustered instance this is an option now. In this article we will check how to implement this solution. On the latest versions of SQL Server new possibilities to assign storage to a clustered instance became available. In this […]
You already understand the benefits of the BPE and how to deal with the feature, now it’s time to better understand how it works. Here we are, the last article of this Buffer Pool Extension series. We came from the explanation of what is the Buffer Pool, made an introduction of the new In-Memory technology […]
This third part of the BPE series shows the basics of Buffer Pool Extension and know how to implement and troubleshoot it. During all the Buffer Pool Extension (BPE) series we have been explaining base concepts related to this new technology, as well as its benefits. We understood how the Buffer Pool works and the […]
Introduction Among many different things that can affect SQL Server performance, some are more significant than others. In addition, some changes can be relatively easy to implement, but others are quite painfully:
SQL Server Management Studio provides three built-in performance monitoring features. These are Activity Monitor, Data collection sets, and standards reports.
SQL Server Management Studio provides a set of standard reports that show basic performance information. These reports are available out of the box, no previous installation and configuration is needed. There are more than 20 reports that show usually required monitoring and troubleshooting information at the SQL Server instance level.
Introduction In a previous article we discussed the how to set up a basic cursor. We explained that a cursor is a row-based operation that takes a given SELECT statement and breaks downs the processing of the data into looping executions. People that do not have the background in Database Administration or who did not […]
Introduction Most people that work with Microsoft SQL Server will have at least heard talk of cursors and often, even if people know on a basic level what SQL Server cursors do, they are not always certain when to use them and how to write the code behind them. So this article takes a step […]
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