Overview I recently conducted some tests to double check the exact behavior of database snapshots when: Snapshots are created on volumes which are much smaller than the actual database size Metadata-only operations such as DROP TABLE are executed DDL...

Recently a colleague asked me if there were any changes specific to Windows Server 2008 which allow SQL Server (clustered instance) to listen on multiple subnets. There was only one change in Windows 2008 to my knowledge (which I have detailed in this...

Overview Many a time, we are asked by customers about the effect of overlapping backup schedules: for example, whether they can backup the transaction log at the same time that a long-running complete backup of the database is taking place. Books Online...

In order to efficiently troubleshoot problems involving failed setup, we need to use the setup logs. Once you know where the log files are located, you can start troubleshooting. What to look for in the log files is a separate topic in itself, but at...

Very often we get asked a question about 'how many processors does my SQL Server 200x Edition really support'. This post hopes to summarize the considerations and actual limits. SQL Licensing is per socket First, let's take a look at the Books Online...

Scenario A common requirement for enquiry queries on an OLTP database is to have search criteria which are very specific ('get me details for for OrderID = NNNN') and also the occasional reports which ask for all the orders ('get me all the orders, no...

Scenario It is a pretty common situation to have transaction date-time stored in a DATETIME field. The problems start with the fact most applications used GETDATE() or some such equivalent at the client side to record the order date-time stamp. So a typical...