In my earlier posts, we have seen how database snapshots work, and how the Buffer Pool is used when we query Snapshot Databases. In this post, we will see how Database Snapshots work, when they are created against Mirrored Databases. Let us assume we...

In my earlier post, we have seen what Database Snapshots are, and how the Database Snapshots are maintained by the SQL Server Database Engine. In this post we will see how the data and index pages, belonging to the Snapshot, are managed in the Buffer...

In this post, we will explore the internals of Database Snapshot. Most of this information is already available in the Internet, in the posts authored by the SQL Server Development Team and the CSS Escalation Team; however, through this post we will attempt...

Few months back, I was working with one of my customers, who was engaged by his client to design a Survey Module. Nothing very fancy about the module, but the kind of reports that were to be delivered made it really tricky. Let me explain the requirements...

If you have read my earlier post , you might be saying “Heck! This guy loves to post questions without providing proper answers!” Believe me, that is not my intention. My intention here is to help you understand common mistakes that people make, so that...

If you have read my earlier blog post on the Importance of data-types , you might be wondering, “What the heck is going on here?” I had already written in that post the reason behind the slow performance – the EmpCountry column in the Employee table is...

Assume that I have a database in Bulk Logged Recovery Model, and I perform a bulk operation that is minimally logged. Now, if I take a Log Backup, should not my Log Backup File Size be smaller than if I had performed the same operation in Full Recovery...

Why did we develop DBMS systems? Not just for storing data – but also to be able to search for and retrieve stored data, and we define what our search criteria should be. This was probably true a couple of decades back, but we have come a long...

One of my friends was asking this to me offline the other day: "I have Database in SQL Server, which is both Mirrored as well as Log Shipped. Log backups happen every 15 minutes; Mirroring happens in Synchronous mode and does not involve a witness...

I have been working with SQL Server Replication for over 4 years now; and till now each case that I work on gives me something new to learn. At the same time, every case amazes me by the intricate design that has gone into implementation of SQL Server...

Very recently, I had the opportunity to help troubleshoot a Blocking issue that one of our customer's was experiencing. In my experience, this is a very common scenario that I have seen. However, while troubleshooting this issue, and more so, while we...

Hi Friends, After a long break of about 8 months, I am back again!! Many things changed recently, and I was quite busy adopting to the changes – the most challenging was, of course, adopting myself to new parenthood. However, I am back again, with some...

In my earlier blog post on Shrinking the Transaction Log files in SQL Server , I had mentioned that a VLF can be truncated only when all transactions, that have at least one command written into the specified VLF have either been committed or rolled back...

This post is again in response to requests from customers who want to know how to configure Database Mirroring between instances of SQL Server 2005 in a WORKGROUP. As you might have noticed, while configuring Database Mirroring using the GUI, it requires...

Hi Friends, This post comes as a response to requests from many of our customers, who want to know the step by step process on how to configure SQL Server Database Mail to send emails using their Windows Live Mail Account or their Gmail Account. If you...

Hi Friends, I am back again after a long time. Last month was the end of yet another financial year, and all of us were very busy with the processes involved with each year-end. Now that all those are completed, I could find some time for my next blog...

Over the last few years that I have been in Microsoft, I have come across multiple issues where database administrators have mistakenly made inappropriate changes to the clustered SQL Server registry hives. Later, when SQL Server restarts (either due...

Great news!!! Due to over-whelming customer demand for the " Lock pages in memory " support for the Standard Edition of SQL Server 2005 and 2008 , Microsoft has released Cumulative Updates that will help SQL Server 64 bit Standard Edition to...

It was a nice day a few days back - nice sunny day, with moderate temperatures. I got up early and after spending some time reading my favorite articles, made my way to office. In office, I realized I hadn't much work lying ahead; so sat down wondering...

Hi Friends, After 3 posts on Database Corruption, I hope you would not mind if I divert my attention a bit and post some blogs related to some other topics. This topic that I going to write about is a very interesting topic; so I thought of taking...

In this post, we would have a look at the differences between DBCC CHECKTABLE and DBCC CHECKDB. We would not go deep into how each works – that has already been very beautifully documented by the SQL Server Storage Engine Team in their blog posts; we...

Ok, so, as promised, here’s my next post on Database Corruption. In this post, we will have a look at how to attach a database that you have detached and can now no longer attach back to SQL Server. This may happen if the database was already corrupt...

Hello Everybody, I think you will all agree with me that database corruption is one of the nightmares in the life of a DBA. We store precious data in databases and each day the dataset grows bigger and bigger. A database corruption issue not only puts...

Hi Friends, This issue that I am talking about is a very common issue that I have seen. I have, in my experience, seen many users experiencing this issue; yet, most people do not know how to troubleshoot or fix this issue. Moreover, I have seen this...

Hi Friends, The last month has been a very busy month for all of us, and its not over yet. However, with the daily work, comes a few instances when we do encounter really interesting issues. End of the last month, I encountered an issue, that is really...