Joe Sack's SQL Server Blog
Until we meet again...
Today is my last day with Microsoft. After five and a half years, I recently decided to join...
Author: Joseph Sack Date: 09/30/2011
Announcing the new SQL MCM Program Manager
I’ve been waiting for a long running transaction to commit, so to speak, before announcing the...
Author: Joseph Sack Date: 06/27/2011
Measuring impact of “optimize for ad hoc workloads” via CACHESTORE_SQLCP
The cache store “CACHESTORE_SQLCP” represents cached ad-hoc query plans, server-side...
Author: Joseph Sack Date: 03/28/2011
ARP Caching and SQL Server Failover Cluster install failures
Now I’m definitely not a networking guy, so even the more basic networking concepts fill me...
Author: Joseph Sack Date: 03/27/2011
Forced Parameterization with Filtered Indexes
Consider the following scenario: You have a database that has PARAMETERIZATION FORCED enabled. You...
Author: Joseph Sack Date: 03/27/2011
Two good Mondays in a row for the SQL MCM program
The last two Mondays have brought us two new highly qualified Microsoft Certified Masters. If you’ve...
Author: Joseph Sack Date: 02/21/2011
One less “uncertified Master”
News travels pretty fast, so I thought I would get the official word out tonight before this news...
Author: Joseph Sack Date: 02/10/2011
Last batch of SQL MCM videos now published
Our last planned batch of SQL Server 2008 MCM Readiness Videos are now published – covering...
Author: Joseph Sack Date: 01/03/2011
Second batch of SQL MCM Readiness Videos now Released
We just added another 23 videos on Technet – making it a total of 56 videos available as of today....
Author: Joseph Sack Date: 12/15/2010
How do you know if you’re ready for SQL MCM?
“Know what you know. Know what you don’t know. Don’t ever confuse the two.”...
Author: Joseph Sack Date: 11/21/2010
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Administration for Oracle DBAs
I just found out today that one of our own SQL MCMs (2005/2008) & MCA, Christian Bolton, is a...
Author: Joseph Sack Date: 11/21/2010
A New Path to Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server 2008
It’s a big day for the Microsoft Certified Master (MCM) program, as we announce the new MCM...
Author: Joseph Sack Date: 11/09/2010
High Availability and Disaster Recovery for Microsoft’s SAP Data Tier: A SQL Server 2008 Technical Case Study
Apologies for my radio silence lately. With SQL PASS next month, I'll be getting a little more...
Author: Joseph Sack Date: 10/29/2010
Off Topic: How I chop wood and carry water
“Before enlightenment; chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment; chop wood, carry...
Author: Joseph Sack Date: 06/17/2010
Sharing your T-SQL Code? Test it on a case sensitive SQL instance
(Reposting from cache - as the MSDN blog migration seemed to have lost my latest post) Do you share...
Author: Joseph Sack Date: 06/01/2010
Eve of SQL Rotation 9 and planning for future rotations
The ninth rotation of the SQL Microsoft Certified Masters program begins Monday. I'm really looking...
Author: Joseph Sack Date: 04/30/2010
Friday afternoon case of the mystery scan versus seek
So I just got finished with a Friday afternoon head scratcher (that luckily had a resolution)....
Author: Joseph Sack Date: 04/23/2010
Gotcha: When Server-Scoped DDL Triggers don’t honor ROLLBACK
I’ve used DDL Triggers before to prevent database DROP DATABASE operations. For example:...
Author: Joseph Sack Date: 04/08/2010
Free press doesn’t always mean lollypops and rainbows
(Cross posted on The Masters Blog) The eighth rotation of the SQL Microsoft Certified Masters...
Author: Joseph Sack Date: 04/02/2010
ALTER INDEX ALL REBUILD behavior
I was asked a few questions about the behavior of using “ALTER INDEX ALL… REBUILD” and thought I...
Author: Joseph Sack Date: 03/09/2010
SQL MCM Prep Week posts by Brent Ozar
Brent Ozar, who is a Microsoft SQL Server expert for Quest Software, Microsoft MVP, Editor-in-Chief...
Author: Joseph Sack Date: 02/10/2010
DBA 101: Collecting and Interpreting Failover Cluster Logs
When an unexplained outage occurs on a standalone server and you need to determine root cause, DBAs...
Author: Joseph Sack Date: 02/09/2010
Why run the SQL MCM marathon?
I’ve been a casual jogger for about 14 years, and lately I’ve been debating whether or not I should...
Author: Joseph Sack Date: 01/21/2010
Gaps in Database ID sequence – one reason why this can happen
I spoke with a DBA today about the following scenario… When running DBCC CHECKDB in SQL Server 2005,...
Author: Joseph Sack Date: 12/28/2009
Updated SQL 2008 MCM Pre-reading list
David Ikeda and I have updated the SQL Server 2008 MCM Pre-reading list based on the last training...
Author: Joseph Sack Date: 12/07/2009
SQL MCMs – Now Sixty Members Strong
** Cross posted from the Master blog. I usually don’t cross post the new SQL MCM member...
Author: Joseph Sack Date: 11/26/2009
Testimonial from a SQL MCM (who doesn’t work for Microsoft)
I was recently asked by a potential SQL MCM candidate if we could share testimonials about the SQL...
Author: Joseph Sack Date: 10/30/2009
Lucky "Rotation 7" almost done
The seventh SQL Microsoft Certified Masters rotation is almost finished. It has been a jam packed 48...
Author: Joseph Sack Date: 10/22/2009
Authors on the loose at the SQL MCM Program
We’re midway through the second week of “Rotation 7” for the SQL Server Microsoft Certified Master...
Author: Joseph Sack Date: 10/14/2009
Rotation 7 of the SQL MCM Program has begun!
We kicked off the seventh rotation of the SQL Server Microsoft Certified Master program on Monday...
Author: Joseph Sack Date: 10/07/2009
Last week to register for the October 2009 SQL Microsoft Certified Master program
Just a heads up that if you've been on the fence about registering for the SQL Server Microsoft...
Author: Joseph Sack Date: 09/16/2009
SQL MCM Program Fee Discounts
I just posted some information on two SQL MCM Program Fee discounts available for the next SQL MCM...
Author: Joseph Sack Date: 08/19/2009
Using MSDN SQL Server 2008 R2 Books Online instead of using the local download
I downloaded the client-based version of SQL Server 2008 R2 Books Online, however the installer...
Author: Joseph Sack Date: 08/13/2009
SQL-DMO and SQL Server 2008
Just a reminder that SQL-DMO will be removed in a future version of Microsoft SQL Server - so if you...
Author: Joseph Sack Date: 08/12/2009
Meet the new batch of SQL Server Microsoft Certified Masters
Good Morning, Just a heads up that I just posted an introduction to nine out of twelve of the new...
Author: Joseph Sack Date: 07/11/2009
SQL Server 2008 Failover Clustering White Paper & SQL MCM
Short post with two updates today: After many months of development, the much anticipated SQL Server...
Author: Joseph Sack Date: 07/09/2009
Where is my SQL Error log?
Today I found a new (for me), undocumented method for identifying the location of the SQL Error log....
Author: Joseph Sack Date: 06/15/2009
Three Usage Scenarios for sys.dm_db_index_operational_stats
I just posted a new entry on the SQL Server Premier Field Engineer Blog on Three Usage Scenarios for...
Author: Joseph Sack Date: 06/11/2009
Introducing the SQL Server Premier Field Engineer Blog
The new SQL Server Premier Field Engineer Blog is now launched! It will start off small, but...
Author: Joseph Sack Date: 06/07/2009
New White Paper and Compression impact on Memory
Sanjay Mishra just published the following White Paper, "Data Compression: Strategy, Capacity...
Author: Joseph Sack Date: 05/29/2009
Troubleshooting Table Locks
I recently worked on a case where a significant number of deadlocks were being generated for...
Author: Joseph Sack Date: 05/22/2009
Impact of NOLOCK on READ COMMITTED SNAPSHOT ISOLATION
Heard a similar question today, related to my post on "Override READ_COMMITTED_SNAPSHOT with...
Author: Joseph Sack Date: 05/19/2009
Override READ_COMMITTED_SNAPSHOT with READ_COMMITTED?
The scenario… An application is using the READ_COMMITTED_SNAPSHOT (RCSI) database option to minimize...
Author: Joseph Sack Date: 05/18/2009
Presentation Deck for "Performance Tuning with Wait Statistics"
Here is a link to the presentation deck for yesterday's Minnesota PASS presentation: "Performance...
Author: Joseph Sack Date: 04/22/2009
Speaking at PASS MN Tuesday April 21 - Performance Troubleshooting with Wait Statistics
If you live in Minnesota or are visiting next Tuesday, April 21st, please stop by the Bloomington...
Author: Joseph Sack Date: 04/15/2009
Checking for CPU pressure via sys.dm_os_schedulers
Do you suspect you are encountering CPU pressure? Some of the more common signs of CPU pressure...
Author: Joseph Sack Date: 04/08/2009
Should you worry about SOS_SCHEDULER_YIELD?
Today I witnessed a performance load test against a 16 proc 64-bit SQL Server instance. During the...
Author: Joseph Sack Date: 03/17/2009
SQL Server 2008 Query Performance Tuning Distilled
Today I received a copy of SQL Server 2008 Query Performance Tuning Distilled by Grant Fritchey (aka...
Author: Joseph Sack Date: 03/13/2009
SQL Server 2008 Transact-SQL Recipes - Source Code
I recently heard from a reader of SQL Server 2008 Transact-SQL Recipes who was looking for the...
Author: Joseph Sack Date: 03/09/2009