SQL Server

I was doing a database code deployment the other night and the first step in the release plan was “Take a full database backup in case we have to roll back the deployment”. The database in question was about 100 GB in size, so not huge, but not small either. On our current hardware a full backup takes anywhere from 15-20 minutes on average. That’s 15-20 minutes longer than it needed to be because I knew there was a better way to offer that same rollback protection. [Read More]

Thanks to MidnightDBA (b/t) for hosting this month’s #tsql2sday. Strategies for managing an enterprise. What do you think of when you hear the word enterprise? I used to think mainframes and big iron. I would think of sprawling server rooms with dozens of server racks. I used to think monstrous storage arrays and backup tape libraries as far as the eye could see. I used to think of a large employee base. [Read More]

I have nothing but wonderful things to say about the SQL Saturday 386 leadership and the army of volunteers they brought along. It was a very well run event. The venue was nice, everything was very well organized, the people were amazingly helpful and friendly, and it made the perfect place for me to turn my presentation up a notch. It’s amazing how much of a calming effect can be felt when you are surrounded by such an inviting and amazing group of people. [Read More]

Here is a link to the official #tsql2sday invitation from Andy Yun’s Blog. This month’s subject is “Just Say No to Defaults”. If you’ve read my blog at all you will know that I have a slight obsession with SQL Server and PowerShell. As far as I am concerned PowerShell is the new gold standard when it comes to scripting and automation in the Windows environment. Add a sprinkle of SQL Server with the SQL Server PowerShell module (SQLPS) and you have a deadly combination as a DBA. [Read More]

What steps do you go through to validate SQL Server configurations after a server build? Even a single server can take some time and is also prone to human error. Have you ever needed to validate a configuration setting across all of the SQL Servers in your environment? If your environment is big enough, doing this manually isn’t even a realistic option. Policy Based Management excels at these things. Introduced in SQL Server 2008, it can definitely help DBA’s manage their ever growing environments. [Read More]

Did that say free? Why yes, yes it did! But don’t let the price tag fool ya, these are some pretty nice little utilities. Another blog post inspired by a question on Twitter. I went to SQL Saturday #383 a few weeks ago and noticed a handful of performance testing utilities being mentioned or used during many of the presentations. I have seen them all mentioned or used in demos before, but I have very little experience using them myself. [Read More]

This is the 3rd installment in a small series of blog posts on how to create a PowerShell wrapper for running SQL Server Agent Jobs. Here are the links to the 2 previous posts and I recommend reading them because all of the posts build on the previous one. Creating a SQL Agent Job Wrapper with PowerShell and SMO - Part 1 SQL Agent Job Wrapper Part 2 – Adding Error Generation to the Cmdlet [Read More]

Last week I posted Creating a SQL Agent Job Wrapper with PowerShell and SMO. In that post I created a couple PowerShell scripts that run a SQL Agent job and wait for it to complete before exiting. That process could be called from the command line, or even from a 3rd party job scheduler if you were so inclined. I recommend checking it out before you continue, because this is a continuation of that post. [Read More]

I’ve seen this question asked a number of times over the past couple weeks and I thought I would share an approach using PowerShell and SMO. But first, let’s take a step back and try to understand why someone would want to do this. What’s wrong with SQL Agent? Well there’s really nothing wrong with SQL Agent. The main reason I have seen people asking this question is because their company is looking into using an enterprise job scheduler. [Read More]

Thank you Cathrine Wilhelmsen for hosting this week’s #tsql2sday. If I knew that this T-SQL Tuesday was going to be about monitoring I would have saved my Monitoring SQL Agent Jobs post from last month. No worries though! I think I’ll talk more generally about monitoring. If you read my Monitoring SQL Agent Jobs post from last month you will know that I had just begun a new position that had no monitoring. [Read More]