Without Instant File Initialization turned on, each time a data file on SQL Server 2005 and above is created or has to grow in size, the file or portion of the file added must be zeroed out. Depending on the size of the file this can be a very time consuming task. By turning on […]
Category: SQL Tuning
SQL Server Login Auditing
In recent months I have been asked to ensure we are auditing both successful and failed logins, not just failed logins. It is simple enough to open SSMS, connect to the instance, right click on the server, chose properties, click on security and then check the proper radio button. When putting together or most recent […]
Increase SQL Server Error Log Files
Recently I learned that you can and probably should increase the number of SQL Server Error logs that your instance of SQL Server maintains. This is real simple to change. You can make the change via the GUI with a few simple steps or accomplish it with TSQL. To make this change with SSMS, open […]
RedGate SQL Index Manager BETA
I recently attended the first micro training event with Red Gate where Grant Fritchey demonstrated a BETA tool called SQL Index Manager. This tool is aimed at the accidental DBA or for those like me who are just lazy. 🙂 It is basically a nice GUI to return your index fragmentation level and makes a […]
Shrinking Transaction Logs
I see questions on forums all the time about DBA’s or System Admins finding they are out of drive space due to a very large transaction log. Post vary a bit on what the admin has tried but a common theme is that they have tried shrinking the file but it didn’t shrink and a […]
Learning Transactional Replication
I have been working on a new skill this week and that is implementing transactional replication. I am of course doing all this testing and learning on a development system and thank goodness I am. I have found all kind of little nuances with getting this setup. A fun error I came across today after […]
Adding an Index to Save Space
Sounds weird right, but that is exactly what has happened with a VLDB I inherited. A third party database that I support contains 23 columns per table and 16 of those columns have a non clustered index. That’s it, that is all there is to the table? Each month a new table is created and […]
If You Aren’t Measuring It, You Can’t Manage It
It sounds simple and logical doesn’t it. One could say it is common sense right? How many of us are failing to do this simple task? It could be things as simple as having a monitor tracking successful backups, amount for free disk space on a drive or the amount of free space in your […]