SQL Aloha

Checkout SQLServerIO.com for Useful Information on SQL Server Storage Systems

At the recent SQLSaturday #28 in Baton Rouge, LA, I had the opportunity to meet Wes Brown (Blog | Twitter), and attend his session on “Understanding Storage Systems and SQL Server”. I enjoyed his presentation and also discovered that Wes has a blog where he shares his deep knowledge of SQL Server I/O. If you ...read more

How Do You Defragment Your SQL Server Indexes

I give a lot of presentations based on best practices, and in all of them I stress the importance of regularly rebuilding or reorganizing indexes. Both the REBUILD and the REORGANIZE options have their pros and cons, so I thought it would be interesting to do a poll to see which method(s) was preferred ...read more

How to Performance Tune a VLDB on your Desktop

Recently, I wrote a review of Red Gate Software’s new SQL Virtual Restore software. SQL Virtual Restore allows you to quickly turn a compressed backup into a live, virtual database, with the advantage that the virtual database is substantially smaller than the original database, while at the same time acting identically to the production database.

Windows OS Power Saving Feature Directly Affects CPU Performance

While I have always known that the Windows operating system Power Plan options affect a server’s performance, I had not realized how much until SQL Server MVP Glenn Berry (Blog | Twitter) suggested I try out my new Dell T610 test servers under the three available power savings plans:

High Performance
Balanced
Power Saver

PAL 2.0 Beta Released

Back in 2008, I wrote a blog post about version 1 of the Performance Analysis of Logs (PAL) tool. This free tool, available from pal.codeplex.com, has been enhanced, and Version 2.0, Beta 1.1, is currently available for download. I have just downloaded and installed it myself, although I haven’t had much chance to use it ...read more

What is the Ideal SQL Server Test Box?

I’m thinking about setting up a SQL Server test box in my home office for doing some extensive, real-world SQL Server performance testing. So far, here is what I am thinking about getting:
–Because I have limited space, the test box will need to be a tower. I will also be limited to one physical test ...read more

Two Blog Series You Don’t Want to Miss

Blogs are a great way to learn new things about SQL Server, and just in case you have missed them, I want to recommend the following two blog series that I feel every DBA should read.

An Introduction to Data Compression in SQL Server 2008

This is an excerpt from my free eBook, Brad’s Sure Guide to SQL Server 2008.
There is one thing every DBA knows with certainty, and that is that databases grow with time. MDFs grow, backups grow, and it never stops. The more data we have, the more work SQL Server has to perform in order ...read more