Dear readers - please note that this blog is no longer active at this location. The blog has been migrated and is now available on Technet at the following friendly URL: http://www.temenosonsql.com . Thank you.

Understanding DBCC (Database Console Commands) is a step toward becoming a better and well-rounded DBA for TEMENOS T24 . In my last post , I covered the basics of DBCC DBREINDEX, a command that rebuilds your indexes to remove fragmentation. In this post...

If you want to be a better and well-rounded DBA for TEMENOS T24, understanding DBCC (Database Console Commands) is an important step. In my last post , I covered the basics of the DBCC SHOWCONTIG command and how to find table fragmentation. In this post...

If you want to become a better and well-rounded DBA for TEMENOS T24, understanding DBCC (Database Console Commands) is an important step. In my previous posts in this series, I discussed the basics of DBCC and three commands: DBCC SQLPERF, DBCC HELP ...

To get better performance from SQL Server queries, you need to be able to read a query execution plan and determine if that plan needs to be optimized. An execution plan is the method that the optimizer will follow to execute the submitted query, and...

The SQL Server optimizer has many algorithms and operators to put together reusable execution plans for queries that you run against a system. One is the ability to perform index intersection and/or union, which basically means that it can use multiple...

In my last post about backup and recovery, I discussed the various methods for backing up a SQL Server database. In this post, I'll discuss the other half of the equation: restoring the database. After all, backups are only as good as the last restoration...

This is the third post in a series about the data collector in SQL Server 2008. In the first post , we looked at how to set up the data collector; in the second post , we looked at the standard counters that are captured by the data collector. In this...

Query optimization is one of the most important skills in your system performance and scalability toolkit, and correct index usage is one of the most effective ways to get good query execution plans. Queries need efficient on-disk access paths to minimize...

This is the second part in a series of posts about the data collector in SQL Server 2008. In this post, I will list the measurements that are available from the data collector. This may seem like a strange post, but I could not find this information anywhere...

This is the first part of a series of posts about the data collector in SQL Server 2008. The data collector captures key Windows Performance Monitor counters and internal SQL Server counters every minute in a SQL Server database. In this post, I'll show...

As database administrators, we are charged with not only protecting our data but also being able to recover it in case of emergencies. For that reason, knowing the different types of backups that are available to you in SQL Server, how they work, and...

Understanding DBCC (Database Console Commands) is a step toward becoming a better and well-rounded DBA for Workforce Central. In my last post , I covered the basics of DBCC and two of its commands: SQLPERF and HELP. In this post, I will cover the DBCC...

Understanding DBCC (Database Console Commands) is a step toward becoming a better and well-rounded database administrator (DBA) for Workforce Central. DBCC is a command in Transact-SQL that helps you implement maintenance, validation, and information...

Knowing which queries are performing slowly gives you inside knowledge that you can use to optimize SQL Server. Every query that is executed against SQL Server is stored in the plan cache. Besides the raw query and the execution plan that is needed for...

RAM is the secret sauce in SQL Server performance: the more RAM, the faster the performance. In this post, I'll discuss how RAM is allocated for the data cache in SQL Server. SQL Server fulfills a request for data only from RAM, never streaming off the...

You have your highly available instance of SQL Server in place, and you've grown comfortable with the unique attributes of administering a clustered SQL Server configuration. (See my previous post .) Now, you've decided (or Temenos Group has asked you...

SQL Server failover clustering can be intimidating if you're not used to administering clustered systems. In my earlier post , I discussed how to install Windows and SQL Server in a failover cluster configuration. TEMENOS T24 fully supports using a clustered...

SQL Server has a variety of options to improve availability, including failover clustering. Failover clustering protects you from several kinds of hardware and software failures, such as a server crash, a local disk drive failure, or an application fault...

The PAL tool can help you find performance bottlenecks in SQL Server running TEMENOS T24 by aggregating and evaluating the hundreds of Windows Performance Monitor counters that are associated with SQL Server. In part 1 and part 2 of this series about...

Do you want to improve the performance of TEMENOS T24 on SQL Server by finding and clearing the bottlenecks? Then fire up the PAL tool. This tool can help you find performance bottlenecks in SQL Server running TEMENOS T24 by aggregating and evaluating...

The Performance Analysis of Logs (PAL) tool is a free tool from CodePlex . It parses and analyzes Windows Performance Monitor logs to find performance bottlenecks. The PAL tool can help you find performance bottlenecks in SQL Server running TEMENOS T24...

In the fourth post about the SQL Server error logs, we examined the logging of database startup and recovery entries. In this final post about the error logs, we'll examine the logging of security and network startup entries. Understanding how the SQL...

In the third post about the SQL Server error logs, we examined the CPU, locking, and memory messages. In this fourth post, we'll examine database startup and recovery. Here's that picture of the error log again for reference: System Databases ...

In my posts about RAID ( part 1 and part 2 ), I didn't cover RAID 1 + 0 because RAID 1 + 0 isn't a good combination for SQL Server running TEMENOS T24. However, we have received many questions about why I didn't cover RAID 1 + 0. So, I'll explain how...