SQL Server Agent Alerts – Getting the News Fast On Database Corruption
Have you ever made the comment to your friends or family that you are always the last to know something? Good news travels fast but bad news doesn’t always travel fast enough. When dealing with database corruption SQL Server, which is always bad news, if you are the...
SQL Server Diagnostics – Intro to Wait Stats
SQL Server has a bounty of self-diagnostic data that any good DBA can monitor and analyze. This analysis is often triggered by an unexpected event like queries that begin to run longer than usual or a spike in CPU utilization. Finding the root cause of such events...
Meltdown and Spectre – What You Need to Know
Unless you have been away on an extended, off-the-grid vacation for the first part of 2018 chances are you have heard about and are preparing for the Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities. The news hit the streets before a planned public announcement could be made by...
Steps to Safely Moving MSDB in SQL Server
If you are just getting started in your role as a SQL Server DBA, at some point in your career you are going to have to do some work with SQL Server system databases. That is, unless you are reading this in the year 2025 when all databases will be managed bots in the...
Being Selective with Your IT Training Budget
If you have ever had to enter or approve a line item for employee training in your budget, then you already know it is a considerable expense. Sending IT professionals off to training can be a worthwhile expense that can actually save your company thousands of...
Querying SQL Agent Job Information
Many companies rely on the job scheduling and alerting services provided with the native SQL Server Agent service. From backups to SSRS subscription to SSIS packages, SQL Server Agent has the capability to run many types of business critical tasks on a regular...
Planning Your 2018 IT Budget
It’s that time of year that a good amount of IT departments are dedicating time to researching and planning for their 2018 IT budgets. As you know, the growth of your company and it's data depends heavily on your IT infrastructure, so the decisions you make and the...
The SQL Performance Needle in a Haystack
Technical communities are thriving and the knowledge they provide to professionals is immense. In the SQL Server community especially, countless blog sites, forum posts, tweets, webinars and white papers exist that help DBAs solve tough problems every day and we are...
Tabulating Extended Events
You know the old joke that goes, “A DBA walks into a bar, sees some friends at a couple of tables and asks if he can join them.”? Well, as DBAs we are used to dealing with tables. Whether the data comes from a log file, trace file, or XML, we want to turn it into a...
SQL Server 2017 – General Release Available Today!
Microsoft announced the much anticipated SQL Server 2017 release is available for download today. This version is packed with so many features, here are just a few of what we’re looking forward to here at SQLWatchmen: Always On Availibility Group – supporting the...