SQL Server According to Bob
Come here for knowledge about SQL Server uniquely provided by the two Bobs at Microsoft
SQL Server Log Writer Workers
SQL Server 2017 leverages up to 4 log writer workers, on hidden schedulers, to assist in transaction...
Date: 02/11/2019
SQL Mysteries: SQL Server Login Timeouts – A Debugging Story
This blog takes you through the debugging journey, refreshing us on old concepts and introducing...
Date: 02/10/2019
SQL Server Worker Thread Default Calculation
SQL Server 2017 introduced a small change to SQL Server’s default worker thread calculation,...
Date: 02/10/2019
Viewing and Sorting XEvents Efficiently (Code Samples) - XEProfiler
I was doing backups and clean-ups and ran across a couple of sample projects for XEvent and...
Date: 12/31/2018
SQL Server Linux: Directory fsync Activities
When Creating, Renaming or Deleting (remove/unlinking) a file, Linux requires the direct parent...
Date: 12/18/2018
SQL Server Linux: fsync and Buffered I/O
I was asked to validate the SQL Server behavior in light of the error condition involving...
Date: 12/18/2018
SQL Server On Linux: Forced Unit Access (Fua) Internals
Overview SQL Server relies on Forced-Unit-Access (Fua) I/O subsystem capabilities to provide data...
Date: 12/18/2018
SQL Server Instant File Initialization: SetFileValidData (Windows) vs fallocate (Linux)
SQL Server Books Online documents Instant File Initialization and the associated security...
Date: 12/10/2018
SQL MYSTERIES: Tracing BCP Might Fool You
Today I was tracking a large BCP.exe ‘IN’ operation and monitoring the sys.dm_exec_requests entries....
Date: 08/07/2018
SQL Server Mysteries: The Case of the Dropped AD Group Login
Dylan (who kindly wrote up the contents of this blog for me) was modifying the tests for Active...
Date: 08/03/2018
SQL Server on Linux: How is Delete-On-Close Handled
Windows provides an option for CreateFile to delete a file when the file is closed...
Date: 07/31/2018
SQL Server on Linux: Why Do I Have Two SQL Server Processes
When starting SQL Server on Linux why are there two (2) sqlservr processes? systemctl status...
Date: 07/18/2018
SQL Server on Linux: Quick Performance Monitoring
I have been asked several times about how to get a Performance Monitor like view on Linux. There are...
Date: 05/20/2018
Take the SQL Server Mac challenge
When I graduated from college, one of the first computers I ever used was a MacIntosh. I loved the...
Date: 04/24/2018
SQL Server 2017 Improved Resource Usage On Smaller Machines
What does improving resource usage on smaller machines really mean?...
Date: 03/18/2018
SQL Server on Linux: CU4 - NewSequentialId() – Uuid
Prior to SQL Server 2017 CU4 for Linux (Linux only) the generation of a sequential UUID may not...
Date: 02/22/2018
Microsoft Engineering loves SQLBits
I have the blessed opportunity to speak at many customer events. SQLBits is always one of my...
Date: 02/15/2018
SQL Server on Linux: Kerberos Troubleshooting, Hints and Tips and Hard Code Debugging
SQL Server on Linux uses the GSSAPI and SSSD service for Active Directory (AD) authentication...
Date: 02/05/2018
How It Works: SQL Server DTC (MSDTC and XA Transactions)
I have found the term DTC is used in many ways so for the purposes of the discussion here are a few...
Date: 01/28/2018
Let's talk SQL Server to kick off the PASS Facebook Live series
I've had such a long, great history with the PASS Summit, Community, and all the great people that...
Date: 01/12/2018
SQL Server Management Studio Provides–“XE Profiler”
Bob Ward and I worked with our SQL Server Tool developers (thanks David) to enable ‘Quick XE Trace’...
Date: 12/26/2017
SQL Server Linux: Distributed transactions requiring the Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator service are not supported on SQL Server running on Linux. SQL Server to SQL Server distributed transactions are supported. – CLARIFIED!!!
SQL Server 2019 CTP2 SQL Server 2019 adds broad support for distributed transactions (both...
Date: 12/11/2017
Experience SQL Server 2017: Start your journey here
Updated Content! Please check out these new resources for SQL Server 2017 and SQL Server on Linux...
Date: 10/26/2017
Experience SQL Server 2017: The Fast and the Furious
Please check out a new blog post I created detailing how SQL Server 2017 is Fast, Built-In. Faster...
Date: 09/27/2017
SQL Server 2017 generally available on October 2nd...
Scott Guthrie and Rohan Kumar officially made the announcement today at Ignite that SQL Server 2017...
Date: 09/25/2017
SQL Server Mysteries: The Case of the Suspended, Awaiting Command, and Blocked Session
I ran into a scenario showing my session as suspended, awaiting command and blocked! My first...
Date: 06/09/2017
How It Works: SQL Server Deadlock Trace Flag 1222 Output
The trace flag 1222 can be very powerful and helpful in tracking down the cause of a deadlock when...
Date: 05/23/2017
SQL Server Mysteries: The Case of the Not 100% RESTORE…
I recently visited a customer onsite and presented to them topics on SQL Server 2016. After the...
Date: 04/25/2017
SQL Server Mysteries: The Case of the Not 100% RESTORE…
I recently visited a customer onsite and presented to them topics on SQL Server 2016. After the...
Date: 04/21/2017
SQL Server On Linux: Core-minidumps and Breakpad
As pointed out in my previous post, debugging on Linux brings a few new twists to those of us used...
Date: 03/27/2017
SQL Server on Linux: Scatter/Gather == Vectored I/O
Scatter/gather capabilities allow more efficient memory to disk transfers reducing redundant memory...
Date: 01/31/2017
SQL Server on Linux: An LLDB Debugging Tale
You are aware of our statements indicating “Microsoft Loves Linux.” Over the last couple of years...
Date: 01/29/2017
SQL Server Mysteries: The Case of TDE and Permanent Tempdb Encryption
I’m a huge Sherlock Holmes fan (I’ve read all the books, watch Elementary on CBS every week, and...
Date: 01/26/2017
SQL Server on Linux: Debugging ELF and PE Images (dbgbridge)
In my last post I highlighted the marriage of PE and ELF images within the same process space to...
Date: 01/24/2017
SQL Server on Linux: ELF and PE Images Just Work
Last March I moved from 22 years in SQL Server support to the SQL Server development team, working...
Date: 01/05/2017
How It Works (It Just Runs Faster): Auto Soft NUMA…
Back in June, Bob Dorr gave you the thinking behind why SQL Server 2016 It Just Runs Faster due to...
Date: 11/29/2016
How It Works (It Just Runs Faster): Non-Volatile Memory SQL Server Tail Of Log Caching on NVDIMM
Note: We received feedback that there was some confusion on us calling this functionality "tail of...
Date: 11/08/2016
The SQL Server Installer Version 2: Just Install It!
Back in July, I told you about a new installation experience for SQL Server. One of our goals from...
Date: 10/03/2016
SQL Server 2016 - It Just Runs Faster: Always On Availability Groups Turbocharged
When we released Always On Availability Groups in SQL Server 2012 as a new and powerful way to...
Date: 09/26/2016
How It Works: BULK INSERT (BCP) TDS Traffic
Yesterday I had a discussion with a customer and realized that the BCP, TDS pattern could use a bit...
Date: 09/16/2016
How It Works: How is SQL Server Error 833, 15 Sec I/O Detected
I was approached to revisit the details of how Error Message 833 is detected and reported. SQL...
Date: 09/01/2016
Create Table – Disk vs In-Memory Optimized
I had an interesting e-mail discussion related to the performance of create table. The test being...
Date: 08/23/2016
How It Works: Sync IOs in nonpreemptive mode longer than 1000 ms
Have you encountered the following in your SQL Server error log? Long Sync IO: Scheduler 95 had 1...
Date: 08/17/2016
COLD, WARM, HOT … CLEAN, DIRTY, FREE … What Does All This Mean?
I was asked about these terms from a blog reader. As I thought about these terms and how to blog...
Date: 08/08/2016
How It Works: Session/SPID (–2) for DTC Transactions
I have written on this subject before but it seems to come up from time to time, as it did again...
Date: 08/04/2016
How It Works: Reader / Writer Synchronization
This post is not about a specific SQL Server object but instead outlines a technique used in various...
Date: 07/23/2016
The SQL Server Basic Installer: Just Install It!
20+ years ago when I joined Microsoft I was handed a diskette (maybe it was two), and was told “Here...
Date: 07/13/2016
DBCC Trace Flags 2562 and 2549
Erin Stellato and Jonathan Kehayias from sqlskills reached out asking for clarification of trace...
Date: 07/12/2016
How it Works: XEL Health Session and Shutdown
There are a variety of posts talking about the black box recorder (XEL Health Session) explaining...
Date: 07/04/2016
What Am I Working On (RDORR): SQL Server On Linux
To some of you SQL Server On Linux is old news from various announcements made a couple of months...
Date: 06/27/2016