Working with Microsoft SQL Server for many years I have spent a lot of time discussing the importance of the availability of SQL Server databases. Questions that always come up when discussing availability of the data is “Recovery Time Objective – RTO” and “Recovery Point Objective – RPO”. Both questions are very important when determining […]
Know Backups and Know Restores – SQL Server Restores
A couple of years ago I put together a training session to demonstrate various types of backups and restores. The driving factor behind me building this session was the response I got from talking to a dozen or so DBA’s about disaster recovery. I asked how many have ever performed a restore where you had to […]
Making a Difference – #SQLFamily
When I started with the SQL Community I was first encourage to start blogging which I started in Sept of 2010. While at the PASS Summit in 2010 I was encourage to submit to speak at a SQL Saturday. I submitted my first ever session for SQL Saturday #62 and got selected to speak. This […]
Using BMC Control-M to Automate Tasks
My largest client recently purchased BMC Control-M to use as our enterprise scheduler. Since this product went live in our environment I have been watching it displace other schedulers to become the centralized scheduler. As I have learned more about the capabilities of Control-M as well as becoming more alert to seeing references to the […]
The Primary Filegroup Cannot be Backed Up as a File Backup
File Group backups are great when working with very large databases (VLDB’s) that have been partitioned. Typically when I come across File Group backups implemented in production the database is using the full recovery model. With the full recovery model you can specify individual file groups for backup. A very common backup strategy for VLDB’s […]
How to check for last SQL Server backup
As a database professional, I get asked to review the health of database environments very often. When I perform these reviews, one of the many checks I perform is reviewing backup history and making sure that the backup plans in place meet the requirements and service level agreements for the business. I have found a […]
SSIS Training class by Andy Leonard
Andy Leonard (b | t | l | f) of Linchpin People, has announced a new training class called ‘From Zero to SSIS‘. The first class is being offered in Reston, VA, May 19-23 2014. Andy is one to the top guru’s of SSIS. If you are looking to improve your SSIS skills then you need to attend SSIS Training […]
How to reset the SA password in SQL Server
Getting locked out of a SQL Server can happen in a number of ways. You could inherit a server that was managed by someone that left the company and only that person had System Admin rights for example. A recent encounter I had was were a database server was built and provisioned in one active […]