Dear-Sql-Dba

Tag: dear-sql-dba

Finding Queries that Cause Wait Stats in SQL Server

Finding Queries that Cause Wait Stats in SQL Server

You’ve got some troubling wait stats in SQL Server. How can you tell which queries are causing those waits?

Learn the pros and cons of different techniques to track down the cause of both common and tricky waits in SQL Server, including CXPACKET, PAGEIOLATCH, LCK, RESOURCE_SEMAPHORE, and THREADPOOL waits.

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Removing Query Hints with Plan Guides (Dear SQL DBA Episode 43)

Removing Query Hints with Plan Guides (Dear SQL DBA Episode 43)

If you need to add, remove, or replace hints from ad-hoc queries where you can’t change the code, plan guides can help. See a demo of removing a query hint from parameterized TSQL run from an application, and get tips on how to make your plan guides work in SQL Server.

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Should I Get Certified as a DBA? (Dear SQL DBA Episode 41)

Should I Get Certified as a DBA? (Dear SQL DBA Episode 41)

on May 4, 2017

Find out if getting certified will help you land an entry level DBA job. If you do want to get certified, get Kendra’s tips on preparing for the exam in this 17 minute episode.

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How Does a DBA Build Confidence After Making Mistakes? (Dear SQL DBA Episode 40)

How Does a DBA Build Confidence After Making Mistakes? (Dear SQL DBA Episode 40)

on April 27, 2017

Ever had a database change go horribly wrong? It can feel awful in the moment, then eat away at your confidence for days afterward.

In this 20 minute episode, I give you practical steps that help you cope with change over the course of your DBA career.

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Are Bad Statistics Making My Query Slow? (Dear SQL DBA Episode 39)

Are Bad Statistics Making My Query Slow? (Dear SQL DBA Episode 39)

An important query is suddenly slow. Is it because statistics are out of date? This is tricky to figure out, and updating statistics right away can make troubleshooting even harder. Learn how to use query execution plans to get to the heart of the question and find out if stats are really your problem, or if it’s something else.

In this 35 minute episode:

  • 00:39 SQL Server 2017 Announced
  • 01:10 New video from Microsoft’s Joe Sack demonstrating Adaptive Query Processing
  • 03:05 This week’s question: Are bad stats making my query slow?
  • 05:26 Demo of finding plan in cache and analyzing stats begins
  • 28:17 What to do when stats ARE the problem

Code samples are at the bottom of the page

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Index Maintenance and Performance (Dear SQL DBA Episode 38)

Index Maintenance and Performance (Dear SQL DBA Episode 38)

on April 13, 2017

They made their index maintenance job smarter, and their queries got slower in production afterward. Could the index maintenance have harmed performance?

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Lock Timeouts & Memory (Dear SQL DBA Episode 37)

Lock Timeouts & Memory (Dear SQL DBA Episode 37)

on April 6, 2017

The dev server got bogged down during a deployment and lock timeouts were everywhere. Was the perfmon counter way off about how much memory was being used just for locks?

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