If you have not seen or heard the news, we have announced our plans to release a service pack for SQL Server 2005. If you want to read more about the announcement, look at this blog post http://blogs.technet.com/dataplatforminsider/archive/2008/04...

This issue is as old as SQL Server.  In fact, it goes back to Sybase days but continues to fool and puzzle administrators. A session with that status of sleeping / awaiting command is simply a client connection with no active query to the SQL Server...

Cumulative Update #7 for SQL Server includes a fix for Analysis Services backups to correct a problem with truncation of metadata files as described in KB Article 950968 . The fix involves changes to the locking levels used for backups, thereby avoiding...

I ran into an issue yesterday that brought up questions as to how the checkpoint's max outstanding, I/O target is determined.   There is different behavior across the various versions of SQL Server and it would take an entire white paper to...

This post assumes you have properly enabled the xp_cmdshell feature using the Surface Area Configuration tool and you have used Management Studio | Server Properties | Security to establish a proxy for xp_cmdshell execution. Sample command:  ...

SQL Server authentication versus Windows Authentication seems to cause File Stream users confusion.   I thought this e-mail chain would help. From: Robert Dorr Subject: RE: OpenSqlFilestream problem   It is really not the SQL Server Service...

I'm leaving this Saturday for the Europe PASS Conference in Neuss, Germany. I have the following two sessions to present while at the conference: 1) Performance Toolset Workshop This is day long pre-conference seminar on SQL Server Engine Performance...

  When I drop an object why does SQL Server not immediately re-use those extents for a new object?  This is because the storage engine is optimized for speed to continue allocating new extents from available free space in the file rather than...

I don't want you to be surprised when you see more use of SQLBPA.   It was 18 months ago when the development team approached the support team asking us to help identify issues for SQLBPA.   Several of us, including myself helped identify...

I had a very nice conversation this week with one of the blog readers.   The question related to adding more memory to their server.   It lead to an exchange of various links that I think you might find handy.  We discussed the...

This blog post is to again inform you "NOT" to consider SQLIOSim as an I/O performance evaluation tool!   Every other month or so I get a rash of questions about using SQLIOSim to validate I/O performance and I have to repeat the same...