SQL Aloha

Free SQL Server Training Webinar Series

SQLServerCentral.com, PragmaticWorks, and Wrox Press are sponsoring a series of free SQL Server webinars in February. Called the SQL Server 101 Series, the sessions include:

Introduction to Managing a SQL Server Database with Jorge Segarra
Beginning T-SQL with Patrick LeBlanc
The Modern Resume with Steve Jones
How to Become an Exceptional DBA with Brad McGehee
Fundamentals of SQL Server Integration ...read more

DBA Checklist Updated

I have recently updated and revised my DBA Best Practices Checklist, which is hosted on www.Simple-Talk.com. The goal of the list is not to cover every aspect of SQL Server administration, but to hit the highlights. In addition, not every item in the checklist will apply to every SQL Server instance, under every circumstance. So ...read more

Creating the SSC Maintenance Plan: Part 3

Note: This is an in-depth article that exceeds 5,000 words, and provides a case-study of how a maintenance plan could be implemented on a single, plain vanilla, SQL Server instance.
As I have mentioned in previous parts of this article series (part 1, part 2), I act as a consultant DBA for the SQLServerCentral.com (SSC) and ...read more

What Would You Like to See in a New Book on Indexing?

I am currently in the early stages of writing an outline for a new book on indexing, targeted towards novice DBAs. While this topic has been done to death in hundreds of articles, presentations, and books, I think there is still room for a book that makes the topic easy to read and easy to ...read more

Free eBook on SQL Server Maintenance Plans Now Available

My new eBook, Brad’ Sure Guide to SQL Server Maintenance Plans is now available as a free, 269 page PDF eBook. The book is designed for part-time or novice DBAs who want to learn how to properly create Maintenance Plans using the tools that come with SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) in SQL Server 2005/2008.
These ...read more

How to Use SQL Backup Inside a Maintenance Plan

When you create a SQL Server Maintenance Plan using the Maintenance Plan Wizard or the Maintenance Plan Designer, the SQL Server native backup command is used to perform full, differential, and transaction log backups. But what if you want to use backup compression to reduce the size of your backups and the amount of time ...read more

Ola Hallengren Updates Free Database Maintenance Scripts to Support SQLBackup 6.3

Ola Hallengren has recently updated his popular free SQL Server database maintenance scripts to support the newest point release of SQLBackup 6.3.
For those of you who are not familiar with Ola’s database maintenance scripts, they are designed to help you backup, optimize indexes, and perform integrity checks on all your databases. These are highly polished ...read more

PASS’s SQL Server Standard Latest Edition Available

Although it’s buried on the SQLPASS website, the newest edition of the SQL Server Standard is now available here in the PDF format. The goal is to publish two articles a month on the website. The first article is from Thomas LaRock (aka SQLRockstar), and it is called “The Trouble With Triggers.”
The editor of the ...read more