One of the more gut-wrenching experiences of a DBA is to have a database get stuck in recovery. This typically happens when the server was rebooted unexpectedly and typically coincides with a rather large transaction.
Database In Recovery Redux
Category: SSC
Indexed Views – Performance Panacea or Plight
An indexed view is a view where the result set from the query (the view definition) becomes materialized in lieu of the virtual table result set of a standard (non-indexed) view. Many times we see that an indexed view would be created to help improve performance. Far too often, an indexed view is created without consideration for the costs of the indexed view.
Connect To SQL Server – Back to Basics
The first critical task any data professional should ever learn how to do is how to connect to SQL Server. Without a connection to SQL Server, there is barely anything one could do to be productive in the data professional world (for SQL Server).
An Experiment with Deadlocks
There seems to be a myth out there that when deadlocks come a-knocking, then just throw this little directive (ROWLOCK) at it and all will be well. This is total fiction and we will explore that in this article.
The Curiously Large CASE Statement
A powerful little expression in SQL Server is the CASE statement. The CASE statement has the ability to “transform” data per business rules to help better understand the data in a given query. In the simplest form, the CASE statement is a statement that evaluates a list of conditions (in order) and returns the first matching result expressions.
Disk Space and SQL Server
One of the frequently required job functions of the database administrator is to track disk space consumption. Whether this requirement comes from management or from a learning opportunity after a production outage, the need exists.
Passion, Challenges, and SQL
One of my biggest reasons why I do what I do, boils down to the challenges that I frequently get to encounter. There is a wild satisfaction to working on a very difficult and challenging task, product, tool, profession, skill, etc. This satisfaction often involves reward and a sense of accomplishment.
Interview Trick Questions
Anybody that has interviewed for a job has most likely run into the trick question. Some interviewers like to throw out multiple trick questions all in an effort to trip up the candidate and get the candidate to doubt him/her self.
Defaults In msdb Database
The defaults in the msdb database are about what is missing. It’s missing quite a few things that could be critical to your environment.
Easy Permissions Audit
This is an introductory level method demonstrating how to quickly audit database objects and principals for granted permissions.