Merrill Aldrich : indexes

March Update to Rules-Driven Maintenance

merrillaldrich — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 02:56:00 GMT

This month I have a minor update to the Rules-Driven Maintenance code I originally posted back in August 2012. This update has just two enhancements, but they are nice ones, I think: Much improved handling for instances that use database snapshots. Ability...(read more)

Public Release, SQL Server File Layout Viewer

merrillaldrich — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 21:36:00 GMT

Version 1.0 is Now Available! I’ve been working off and on, as my real job permits, on this visualization tool for SQL Server data files. This is an educational or exploratory tool where you can more readily see how the individual data pages in MDF/NDF...(read more)

Visualizing Data File Layout III

merrillaldrich — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 05:45:50 GMT

This is part three of a blog series illustrating a method to render the file structure of a SQL Server database into a graphic visualization. Previous Installments: Part 1 Part 2 Those that have been reading this series might be be thinking, “Is he going...(read more)

Visualizing Data File Layout II

merrillaldrich — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 23:40:02 GMT

Part 2 of a blog series visually demonstrating the layout of objects on data pages in SQL Server Part 1 In Part 1 of this series, I introduced a little demo app that renders the layout of pages in SQL Server files by object. Today I’ll put that app through...(read more)

Visualizing Data File Layout I

merrillaldrich — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 22:50:34 GMT

Part 1 of a blog series visually demonstrating the layout of objects on data pages in SQL Server Some years ago a gentleman called Danny Gould created a free tool called Internals Viewer for SQL Server . I’m a visual sort of guy, and I always thought...(read more)

Update to Rules-Driven Maintenance

merrillaldrich — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 18:34:00 GMT

Back in August I posted a first version of a rules-driven solution for backups, index and statistics maintenance and integrity checks. The system in general has been working well, and has saved my team a huge amount of time and effort. We are coming to...(read more)