SQL Server 2025 is Generally Available
Category: Query Tidbits
The “Kill” Command: What to Consider Before Stopping a SQL Server Process
Whether you’re troubleshooting on-premises SQL Server, Azure SQL DB, Managed Instance, or Amazon RDS, you will eventually encounter a “lead blocker”—that one high-cost, long-running session holding every other process hostage. While your first instinct might be to issue a KILL command, the consequences vary wildly depending on what that session is actually doing. Here is […]
How to Reset the SA Password When You Get Locked Out
Getting locked out of a SQL Server instance can happen due to a number of situations. The most common scenario I’ve encountered is when a SQL Server is moved from one domain to another without the domain being trusted or having a local SQL admin account. I recently encountered another incident where a DBA was […]
Can You Restore Multiple Differential Backup Files?
Can you restore multiple differential SQL Server backups
How To Restore Change Data Capture – CDC Tables When Restoring a SQL Server Database
I have recently had the privilege of working with multiple clients who have been taking advantage of Change Data Capture “CDC”. Change Data Capture is a feature that utilizes SQL Server Agent to log inserts, updates, and deletes occurring in a table. It makes these data changes available to be consumed in a relational format. […]
SQL Server Error 9002 – Full Transaction Log
A full transaction log can occur for a number of reasons. Typically it is due to the log not being truncated with regular transaction log backups, or something else not allowing the log to truncate. I often find Change Data Capture enabled and the jobs not running, SQL Server Replication in place and replication not […]
SQL Best Practices
SQL Server has evolved a great deal since I first started working with SQL Server 6.5 in 1998. Unfortunately I continually come across newer systems that are configured with old ‘best practices’. Things like 1 tempdb file per core, 1 core per socket on VMware machines, index rebuilds each night, and more. Below are some […]
Purging SQL Server Backup History
It seems like every few weeks I come across a database server with a very large msdb. After a small amount of investigation work, I determine that the largest tables consuming the most space are all related to backup history. I typically only keep 30 days of backup history but I’ve seen as little as […]