Browse by Tags

• Administration
• Agent
• Career
• DBA
• Design
• Developer
• Development
• Documentation
• Error Codes
• Latest Version
• Link Lists
• Microsoft
• Microsoft Update
• Performance Tuning
• Planning
• PowerShell
• Rant
• Security
• SQL Azure
• SQL Server
• SQL Server 2000
• SQL Server Management Studio
• SSMS
• Support
• Testing
• Tips
• Upgrades
• Web

• My Performance Tuning Methodology

  I was speaking with some folks yesterday about tuning a system, and they asked me about my methodology. As time goes on, I find myself doing things differently based on the situation, but there is a general approach I use that I'll explain here. This Read More... Posted Thursday, July 01, 2010 8:50 AM by BuckWoody | 2 Comments Filed under: Performance Tuning, SQL Server 2008

• SQL Server PowerShell Provider And PowerShell Version 2 Get-Command Issue

  The other day I blogged that the version of the SQL Server PowerShell provider (sqlps) follows the version of PowerShell. That’s all goodness, but it has appeared to cause an issue for PowerShell 2.0. the Get-Command PowerShell command-let returns an Read More... Posted Monday, May 10, 2010 7:13 AM by BuckWoody | 0 Comments Filed under: Error Codes, PowerShell, SQL Server, SQL Server 2008

• Which Edition of SQL Server 2008 R2 should you use?

  SQL Server 2008 R2 has just released to manufacturing (RTM’d) as I write this. With each new release, we make changes to the “Editions” we offer. A SQL Server “version” deals with the major changes in the product – and “edition” is a set of features and Read More... Posted Wednesday, April 21, 2010 8:03 AM by BuckWoody | 6 Comments Filed under: Latest Version, SQL Server 2000, SQL Server 2008, Web

• Start a SQL Server Agent Job using the SQL Server PowerShell Provider

  Whew!  That’s a mouthfull. Anyway, I thought I would share part of a script I wrote today to help automate (more) from PowerShell. This assumes a few things: that you’re doing this from the SQL Server 2008 PowerShell provider (not just good old regular Read More... Posted Wednesday, February 10, 2010 6:13 AM by BuckWoody | 5 Comments Filed under: Agent, DBA, PowerShell, SQL Server 2008

• Multi-Monitor Support in SQl Server Management Studio 2008

  Did you notice that there are a lot of "little" things that were improved in SQL Server 2008? One of those was done by one of my favorite developers and deals with multi-monitor support. In previous versions of SQL Server Management Studio you could open Read More... Posted Thursday, February 04, 2010 7:33 AM by BuckWoody | 0 Comments Filed under: SQL Server 2008, SQL Server Management Studio, SSMS

• Transparent Data Encryption and the Latest Data Breach

  Well, It’s happened again. Hundreds of thousands of private records were stolen from a database . This one, however, was different. No one stole any passwords, no one did any social engineering, nothing was captured in-line. No, this one was accomplished Read More... Posted Monday, February 01, 2010 7:06 AM by BuckWoody | 9 Comments Filed under: Security, SQL Server, SQL Server 2008

• FILESTREAM: Storing Binary Objects in a database – or not

  Many shops need to store binary large objects (sometimes called BLOBS) in a database. There are really only two ways to do this: store in them in a table structure in the database itself using a binary data type, or store them in the operating system Read More... Posted Thursday, January 28, 2010 7:47 AM by BuckWoody | 4 Comments Filed under: DBA, Design, SQL Server, SQL Server 2008

• Hovering Over the Titles in Activity Monitor

  I show this little-known feature in just about every perf tuning class I give, and it’s often a surprise to most of the folks there. It’s not earth-shattering or anything, but I do find it helpful. In SQL Server Management Studio 2008, start the new Activity Read More... Posted Thursday, January 21, 2010 7:16 AM by BuckWoody | 0 Comments Filed under: Performance Tuning, SQL Server 2008, SQL Server Management Studio, SSMS, Tips

• Know Your Product Specifications

  As the Data Professional in your organization, the rest of the org looks to you to ensure that the system can handle what the business requires. To do that, you need to know two things: what the business requires, and what SQL Server can do. But of course Read More... Posted Wednesday, January 13, 2010 7:57 AM by BuckWoody | 1 Comments Filed under: Administration, Career, DBA, Design, Developer, Development, Link Lists, Microsoft, Microsoft Update, Planning, SQL Azure, SQL Server, SQL Server 2008

• Spit it out already!

  You’ve probably seen that commercial where the chewing-gum company van stalks the guy who has been chewing the same piece of gum too long, and they attack him and make him chew another piece. I feel like that with SQL Server 2000. Almost every shop I Read More... Posted Wednesday, January 06, 2010 7:11 AM by BuckWoody | 14 Comments Filed under: Administration, DBA, Rant, SQL Server, SQL Server 2000, SQL Server 2008, Support, Testing, Upgrades

• PowerShell Demo Prompt

  When I teach I have to set my fonts really big so that folks in the back can see. I show PowerShell from time to time, and people keep asking me about my latest prompt.   Here’s what my prompt looks like:   { univac\Buck on UNIVAC using AMD64 Read More... Posted Thursday, December 24, 2009 8:19 AM by BuckWoody | 0 Comments Filed under: PowerShell, SQL Server, SQL Server 2008

• After the Upgrade, it runs differently…

  I got a question yesterday in the mail that I thought I would just answer here in a broad context. While I can’t troubleshoot or do performance tuning from a distance, there are some interesting concepts and suggestions this e-mail brings up: “I have Read More... Posted Tuesday, December 01, 2009 9:06 AM by BuckWoody | 6 Comments Filed under: DBA, Developer, Development, Documentation, Latest Version, Performance Tuning, SQL Server, SQL Server 2008, Testing