SQL Server 2025 is Generally Available
Category: SQL Tuning
SQL Server 2016 End of Extended Support
Many organizations are still running SQL Server 2016 in production. Sadly, many are running versions older than 2016 as well, however with SQL Server 2016, the end of extended support runs out very soon. July 14th, 2026, to be precise. After this date, there will be no additional updates unless you have an agreement for […]
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 […]
SQL Server Best Practices
Many technologists dislike the term ‘Best Practice’ because what works for one environment might not work for another. I prefer the term ‘Industry Best Practice,’ prefaced with the caveat: ‘For most environments, this is a solid starting point and a widely accepted standard.’ With that in mind, here are several key configurations I wish every customer would […]
SQL Server error 18456
Working with thousands of instances of Microsoft SQL Server, I often encounter users having issues. A common error is 18456 which indicates a login failure.
Hidden Killers of SQL Server Performance
I’ve been working with SQL Server for a very long time. Out of the box, SQL Server works great, however there is regular care and feeding that needs to be done to ensure it is running optimally. One of the best analogies is to think about an automobile or airplane and how they need to […]
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 […]
Why You Need a SQL DBA or Consultant
Many organizations do not have in-house DBAs. This can be due to a number of reasons. Most commonly it is smaller organizations that cannot justify a full time DBA. Others are larger organizations that do more development work or organizations that run a lot of vendor supported software that don’t understand the value of having […]