Jimmy May, Aspiring Geek: SQL Server Performance, Best Practices, & Productivity
News you can use on implementation of the elusive sqlservr.exe /faster switch & personal effectiveness
#SQLPASS: To The Cloud, Infinity, & Beyond: Top 10 Lessons Learned at MSIT
Capping off a fantastic third week of presentations (see #SQLSatSLC & #SQLSatOregon), I’m...
Date: 11/06/2014
Spooked by Columnstore? See My Halloween Weekend Preso at #SQLSatOregon
This Halloween weekend I continue my efforts to make the world of SQL DWs a better place—one table...
Date: 10/31/2014
AdventureWorks 2014 Sample Databases Are Now Available
Where in the World is AdventureWorks? Recently, SQL Community feedback from twitter prompted me to...
Date: 08/20/2014
Columnstore Case Study #2: Columnstore faster than SSAS Cube at DevCon Security
Preamble This is the second in a series of posts documenting big wins encountered using columnstore...
Date: 05/26/2014
Columnstore Case Study #1: MSIT SONAR Aggregations
Preamble This is the first in a series of posts documenting big wins encountered using columnstore...
Date: 05/19/2014
MSDN Whitepaper: More Cowbell—Optimizing Your Query Plans with the SQL Server 2014 Cardinality Estimator
Hot off the presses is this new MSDN white paper: Optimizing Your Query Plans with the SQL Server...
Date: 04/17/2014
Columnstore Preso to the Oregon SQL Server User Group
In the latest-&-greatest effort in my mission to deliver my Columnstore presentation to every...
Date: 04/08/2014
SQL Server 2014 Columnstore Indexes: The Big Deck
The History Though Columnstore indexes were introduced in SQL Server 2012; they're still largely...
Date: 03/24/2014
Disk Partition Alignment: It Still Matters--DPA for Windows Server 2012, SQL Server 2012, and SQL Server 2014
Introduction I continue to receive dozens of inquiries each year about this issue. The...
Date: 03/14/2014
Xperf: Install Windows Performance Toolkit (WPT) with 242MB Download, Not 2.5GB Windows 7 SDK: Part 2
In my first post on Xperf, I described the simple 4.4MB download necessary to install the Windows...
Date: 11/24/2009
Xperf: Install Windows Performance Toolkit (WPT) with 242MB Download, Not the Entire 2.5GB Windows 7 SDK: Part 1
Say It Ain’t So! In my first post on Xperf, I described the simple 4.4MB download necessary to...
Date: 11/22/2009
SQLIOSim Parser by Jens Suessmeyer & Yours Truly
New! Improved! v.3.3.0 Now Available on CodePlex! Preamble SQLIOSim Parser shreds the results of...
Date: 09/27/2009
Aspiring Geek Speaks This Week: PASS Minnesota
Greetings, my current colleague & former MVP Lara Rubbelke (blog | twitter) was gracious enough...
Date: 09/14/2009
xPerf: Once I Was Blind and Now I See
I’ve been aware of the buzz around xPerf for quite some time. I flagged emails from Microsoft...
Date: 09/08/2009
SQL CAT New Whitepaper: Data Compression: Strategy, Capacity Planning and Best Practices by Sanjay Mishra, et al.
Data Compression: Strategy, Capacity Planning and Best Practices Hot off the presses, the SQL CAT...
Date: 05/29/2009
Lured by Ward Pond, Chris Shaw’s Notorious SQL Quiz Ensnares Me In Its Web
SQL IT Operations Excellence IP Architect, colleague, & friend Ward Pond tagged me in a meme...
Date: 05/18/2009
A World Without Google
If you’re reading this, you survived last week’s Google glitch. Learn more here about the events of...
Date: 05/16/2009
New Article on SQL CAT: Initializing a Transactional Replication Subscriber from an Array-Based Snapshot by Benjamin Wright-Jones
Preamble I had the opportunity to perform a tech review of a very cool article by Benjamin...
Date: 05/15/2009
Disk Partition Alignment (Sector Alignment): Make the Case: Save Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars
I recently collaborated with Microsoft PFE Daniel Janik to create a template to make the case for...
Date: 05/08/2009
A Language for Software Architecture by JD Meier in The Architecture Journal
J.D. Meier is a Principal Program Manager for Microsoft’s Patterns & Practices team. He’s...
Date: 04/28/2009
Wait Stats by Joe Sack
Wait stats rock. As I shared recently with friends, when it comes to SQL Server performance, wait...
Date: 04/27/2009
Wait Stats Introductory References
Preamble For those of you who are already facile with SQL Server wait stats, there’s nothing new...
Date: 04/26/2009
MSDN Blog Box Beefed Up and SProcs Tweaked For New! Improved! User Experience
A few weeks ago Cindy Gross brought this tweet to my attention from SQL Server MVP Jason Massie:...
Date: 04/16/2009
SQL Server 2008 SP1: Available Now at an Internet Near You
The long-awaited SQL Server 2008 SP1 was just released, available at an Internet near you right NOW:...
Date: 04/09/2009
Analyzing Storage Performance by Robert Smith on the Counter-of-the-Week (COTW) Blog
In my role with MS IT's Assessment, Consulting, & Engineering (A.C.E.) team, I work with some of...
Date: 03/19/2009
Office Outlook 2007 CU/HotFix f/u: "Best version of Outlook ever" per MS VP Will Kennedy
This is a follow-up to last week's post in which I shared the fantastic perf enhancements in the...
Date: 03/16/2009
Disk I/O Case Study: Classic Case of SAN Over-Subscription
SAN Over-SubscriptionThere are a variety of challenges related to I/O performance. One common...
Date: 03/15/2009
Office Outlook 2007 CU: Hurry-Up-&-Wait Demon of Delay Begone!
It's a beautiful day. For years now the been hurry-up-&-wait icon has plagued our productivity;...
Date: 03/12/2009
Does Your Blog Wordle Up?
My multi-talented, java-enabled yet Windows-empowered friend Alik Levin of www.practicethis.com...
Date: 03/11/2009
Disk I/O: Microsoft SQL Server on SAN Best Practices from SQL CAT's Mike Ruthruff (& Prem Mehra)
While at the PASS Community Summit in November 2008, I had the pleasure of attending a handful of...
Date: 03/01/2009
VSTS Web Test Step-by-Step Primer: 7-Minute Video by Microsoft A.C.E. Performance Engineer Chris Lundquist (with Copious Notes and Screen Shots from Your Humble Correspondent)
My decision to focus on the SQL Server vertical has paid off for me—metaphorically & literally....
Date: 02/23/2009
SSMS Query Results: “Include column headers when copying or saving the results"
In my work with external customers, I collaborate with some excellent DBAs & Architects. But...
Date: 02/22/2009
sp_reset_connection Does NOT Reset TRANSACTION ISOLATION LEVEL: Unexpected Behavior By Design
I've long been an advocate of the best practice of explicitly setting the transaction isolation...
Date: 02/02/2009
SQL Server Schema Best Practices from the SQL Server Customer Advisory Team (SQL CAT)
An authoritative reference on schema usage in SQL Server 2005 is now available. Along with my buddy...
Date: 12/10/2008
Disk Partition Alignment (Sector Alignment) for SQL Server: Part 4: Essentials (Cheat Sheet)
The purpose of this post is to document Disk Partition Alignment Essentials. It is intended for...
Date: 12/04/2008
Case Study: Part 2: CXPACKET Wait Stats & 'max degree of parallelism' Option: Suppressing Query Parallelism Eliminated CXPACKET Waits & Liberated 30% of CPU
Introduction This is the second of a four-part series: Introduction to Query Parallelism Parallelism...
Date: 12/02/2008