Financial Advice
When I talk about “data access patterns” in relation to databases, it’s often met with blank stares.
What is a data access pattern? What does it have to do with indexes?
Well, my dear friend, today you’re gonna …
Blog
Trace Flag 3608 Disables Automatic Statistics Creation And Ghost Record Cleanup
Short Bad
According to the docs:
…Prevents SQL Server from automatically starting and recovering any database except the master database. If activities that require TempDB are initiated, then model is recovered and TempDB is created. Other databases will be
Things SQL Server vNext Should Address: Make Dynamic SQL Easily Traceable
An Attempt
One tricky thing about working with dynamic SQL is that it’s rather unaccountable. You have a stored procedure, you build up a string, you execute it, and no one wants to claim responsibility.
Like a secret agent, or …
Wait Stats During Exchange Spills
Inorganic
Lots of people say these are rare — and perhaps they are becoming more so — but I still see them with some frequency. That’s not a terribly strong indictment of SQL Server, but that’s not the point of …
Wait Stats During Hash Spills
Jam Job
Hash spills are, as we’ll see, sometimes identified by a different wait than sort spills. In small quantities, spills are often not worth bothering with. But when they pile up, they can really cause some severe performance issues.…
Wait Stats During Sort Spills
Over Under
Over the next few days, I’m going to look at the wait stats that show up during different types of spills of different sizes. For no reason whatsoever, I’m going to start with sort spills. I’ll also cover …
Spinning Disk Mentality
Pervasive
I often have to talk clients down from odd ledges. At this point, there’s about 20 years of advice about SQL Server out there, and for various reasons received wisdom often gets migrated en masse, whether it’s still applicable …
Some Questions I’ve Answered Recently
Good Citizen
When I have spare time, I answer questions over at the Database Administrators Stack Exchange site.
Here are some recent ones that I’ve found interesting:
…SARGability Week: Wrap Up
One Metric Week
This went on a bit longer than I thought it would, but to someone who tries to blog five days a week, that’s a good thing.
While this isn’t the most glamorous subject in the world, it …