CSS SQL Server Engineers
This is the official team Web Log for Microsoft Customer Service and Support (CSS) SQL Support. Posts are provided by the CSS SQL Escalation Services team.
Understanding Optimizer Timeout and how Complex queries can be Affected in SQL Server
What Is Optimizer Timeout? SQL Server uses a cost-based query optimizer. Therefore, it selects a...
Date: 10/19/2018
AGLatency report tool V2.2 introduction
I wrote an article to discuss about data movement latency between AG groups:...
Date: 09/08/2018
July 10, 2018 Windows updates cause SQL startup issues due to "TCP port is already in use" errors
We have recently become aware of a regression in one of the TCP/IP functions that manages the TCP...
Date: 07/26/2018
Lesson learned from an Availability Group performance case
Writer: Simon Su Technical Reviewer: Pam Lahoud, Sourabh Agarwal, Tejas Shah Problem description...
Date: 04/05/2018
Troubleshooting data movement latency between synchronous-commit AlwaysOn Availability Groups
Writer: Simon Su Technical Reviewer: Pam Lahoud, Sourabh Agarwal, Tejas Shah Applies to: SQL Server...
Date: 04/05/2018
Installation of SQL Server 2017 failing with 'VS Shell installation has failed with exit code 1638'
Dear all, Depending on which products were installed on the server beforehand, a SQL Server 2017...
Date: 03/26/2018
Uniqueifier considerations and error 666
This post is intended to shed some light around uniqueifiers and table design that rely on its...
Date: 02/16/2018
SQL Setup ToolSuite Introduction (3) – SQL Registry Viewer Version 2.2
You may want to know what registry keys will be added to system for a SQL server installation. If...
Date: 01/24/2018
SQL Setup ToolSuite Introduction (2) – Product Browser
Oftentimes when I worked on a setup case I hope I have a simple tool to tell me the detailed...
Date: 01/24/2018
SQL Setup ToolSuite Introduction (1) –FixMissingMSI
If you have encountered missing cached MSI/MSP issues during SQL server setup, you may have knew...
Date: 01/24/2018
Changes to hashing algorithm for self-signed certificate in SQL Server 2017
Starting with SQL Server 2005, a self-signed certificate is created automatically during the startup...
Date: 11/08/2017
How to safeguard SQL Server on Linux from OOM-Killer
On a Windows based server, when all the available memory including the page file is consumed, the...
Date: 10/17/2017
New season, New software, New servicing model
Greetings. It feels like a lot of change is in the air! Last Friday marked the Autumnal equinox....
Date: 09/29/2017
SQL Nexus 6.0 is released to github
With codeplex shutting down, we have moved SQL Nexus to github with a new release (6.0). Now both...
Date: 07/26/2017
SQL Server : large RAM and DB Checkpointing
SQL Server : large RAM and DB Checkpointing Hi everyone, This post’s purpose is to establish a...
Date: 06/29/2017
You may see “out of user memory quota” message in errorlog when you use In-Memory OLTP feature
Recently we got an inquiry from a customer who received the following message in errorlog and wanted...
Date: 06/07/2017
Unable to issue alter table for a memory optimized tables
Recently I assisted on a customer issue where customer wasn’t able to alter a memory optimized table...
Date: 05/10/2017
Memory optimized table variable and cardinality estimate
In a previous blog, I talked about memory optimized table consumes memory until end of the batch. In...
Date: 05/10/2017
Unable to restore a backup - Msg 3241
I worked on an interesting issue today where a user couldn’t restore a backup. Here is what this...
Date: 04/12/2017
Why am I getting so many checkpoint files when I have In-Memory OLTP enabled?
Recently, I looked an In-Memory OLTP issue with Principal Software Engineer Bob Dorr who is still my...
Date: 03/06/2017
A few new things in XML plan to help you troubleshoot query performance
In this blog Added per-operator level performance stats for Query Processing, Senior PM in QP talks...
Date: 02/28/2017
Be aware of 701 error if you use memory optimized table variable in a loop
In blog “Importance of choosing correct bucket count of hash indexes on a memory optimized table”, I...
Date: 02/22/2017
Importance of choosing correct bucket count of hash indexes on a memory optimized table
I was working with a customer to troubleshoot memory optimized table issues. In this scenario, our...
Date: 02/18/2017
Solving SQL Connectivity issues: A new guided walk through just got published
We recently published a new document that provides a one stop shop for solving majority of...
Date: 01/29/2017
Pssdiag & Sqldiag Manager update
We are releasing a new version of Pssdiag & Sqldiag Manager which supports SQL Server 2016. It...
Date: 01/12/2017
Why can’t I get a parallel plan when rebuilding my index?
In support, we frequently have customers who call us and want to find out why a particular query...
Date: 01/09/2017
Unable to connect to SQL Server AlwaysOn Listener on Azure due to misconfigured subnet mask
When it comes to troubleshooting, the more you know the better troubleshooter you are (in my...
Date: 12/04/2016
SQL Nexus 5.5.0.1 was released
We just released SQL Nexus 5.5.0.1 on codeplex. In addition to numerous ‘rules’ that catch issues...
Date: 11/20/2016
Unable to drop a user in a database
A user called in for help because he wasn’t able to drop a user from a database. The error message...
Date: 11/15/2016
Backup to remote Azure URL failed due to throttling at VM level
There are multiple levels of throttling with Azure. You can get throttled at disk level, storage...
Date: 10/25/2016
SQL 2016 -- Why can’t I STRETCH my database (I have the right user name and password)?
Recently we got a call from customer who was trying to enable stretch database but repeatedly got...
Date: 10/18/2016
Default auto statistics update threshold change for SQL Server 2016
Lately, we had a customer who contacted us for a performance issue where their server performed much...
Date: 10/04/2016
Proxy settings & backup to URL (Azure blob storage)
With so many users new to Azure, Sometimes an issue appears more complex than it really is. If you...
Date: 09/29/2016
Why “SQL Server Configuration” section on my Azure Virtual Machine is not available?
If you created an SQL Server VM via azure portal, there will be a section called “SQL Server...
Date: 09/28/2016
Unable to connect to SQL Server on azure VM due to an extra NSG applied to subnet
If you need to open up your SQL Server on an Azure VM to public internet access, you need to look no...
Date: 09/18/2016
Why am I getting NULL values for query_plan from sys.dm_exec_query_plan?
Recently we got a customer who called in and wanted to know why he received NULL for query_plan when...
Date: 07/13/2016
Why do I get the infrastructure error for login failures?
In the past few weeks, I saw this error come across quite a bit and thought I will provide an...
Date: 07/09/2016
Tips & Tricks on ‘cloning’ Azure SQL virtual machines from captured images
While we have documentation on how to create a VM from captured image under “How to capture a...
Date: 07/06/2016
New memory grant query hint MIN_GRANT_PERCENT came to rescue
In SQL Server 2012 SP3, we made supportability improvements in the memory grant space. One of the...
Date: 06/09/2016
Bob is Moving To BOBSQL
Bob Ward and Bob Dorr are among the founding members of PSSSQL as long standing SQL Server support...
Date: 06/07/2016
SQL 2016 - It Just Runs Faster: XEvent Linq Reader
SQL Server 2016 improves the XEvent Linq reader scalability and performance. The XEvent UI in SQL...
Date: 05/18/2016
SQL 2016 - Leverages On Demand MSDTC Startup
SQL Server leverages MSDTC for distributed transactions (begin distributed transaction, remote proc...
Date: 05/12/2016
SQL 2016 - It Just Runs Faster: In-Memory Optimized Database Worker Pool
SQL Server leverages a worker pool for the In-Memory Optimized Database capabilities. Prior to SQL...
Date: 05/10/2016
SQL 2016 - It Just Runs Faster - AlwaysOn AES-NI Encryption
The SQL Server 2016, AlwaysOn, log transport takes advantage of hardware based encryption to...
Date: 05/05/2016
SQL 2016 - It Just Runs Faster: AlwaysOn Parallel Compression / Improved Algorithms
SQL Server 2016 introduces two distinct changes in the AlwaysOn transport, compression design....
Date: 05/03/2016
SQL 2016 - It Just Runs Faster: AlwaysOn Log Transport Reduced Context Switches
The AlwaysOn log transport uses a SQL Broker-like based design to send and receive messages between...
Date: 04/28/2016
SQL 2016 - It Just Runs Faster - BULK INSERT Uses Vector Instructions (SSE/AVX)
SQL Server 2016 enhanced the bulk insert activities (BULK INSERT), leveraging the CPUs vector...
Date: 04/27/2016
SQL 2016 - It Just Runs Faster: Column Store Uses Vector Instructions (SSE/AVX)
SQL Server's Column Store feature is designed to accommodate large amounts of data and associated...
Date: 04/22/2016
Why do we see ENCRYPTION_SCAN locks in a SQL server
Recently I worked with a customer who noticed that several sessions[spid’s] in their SQL Server was...
Date: 04/19/2016