I've recently been installing a lot of MS Server products into a lab. One thing I noticed is immediately after the install the server is nearly useless, especially if its a Virtual Server with only one core. The reason for me was after the install the...

If anyone is in Cork on Thursday 4th June, I'll be presenting a seminar on Reporting services 2008 Architecture and Report Builder 2.0 for the MTUG. Well be covering: - Key Engine Changes in 2008 - Rendering Improvements - A Walk through of how to sue...

I’m a SQL/Apps dude, not an Infrastructure guy. My weakness is I love technology so much I dabble in things that I should definitely leave to more expert specialists: windows, active directory, Group Policy, Exchange, ISA Server, networking, patch management...

Ok, I’m sure many people already know this , but I just found out the hard way. When you perform a restore or certain reconfigure options, the entire plan cache is flushed – not only just the database. This might wreck havoc with shared environments or...

I've chatted to a few customers about the possibnility of using a SAN based snapshot to initialise transactional replication. This can be fantastic when you are using a replica to provide "near real time" reporting. Up until now, documentation has...

Jimmy May has compiled a great white paper on Disk Partition Alignment Best Practices for SQL Server along with Denny Lee http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd758814.aspx This is a must read for anyone configuring a disk subsystem for SQL Server...

Thanks to everyone who came to the Dublin SQL users Group session on Tuesday. I hope that we addressed some aspects of “cube fear” that is common in even very experienced relational professionals. For me just being comfortable building that first cube...