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Using Perfmon with SQL Server – Part Two

Yesterday I posted a header from a script that shows you some links for how to use “Logman”, a Windows command-line utility that can automate your collection of Windows Performance Monitor counters. Towards the bottom, you can see the logman command I

Using Perfmon with SQL Server – Part One

I held a workshop on performance tuning in Portland, Oregon yesterday, and as part of that I mentioned a process I follow for automatically collecting Performance Monitor Counters for a system. I use this data to store a baseline and then subsequently

Channeling Bruce Lee: Tuning without Tuning

I’m leading a Performance Tuning workshop here in Portland, Oregon today, and I normally start this kind of workshop with a segment on “pre-tuning” – or, the steps you take so that you don’t have to tune as much later. When we set up a system is the greatest

Store XML Document as Binary, Read as XML

I had an interesting question the other day, so I thought I would share both the question and the answer. We had an older application that had stored an XML document in a table as a binary data type column. I know, I know – we’ve had an XML data type
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How Microsoft Does IT - Updated

I’ve pointed out this link before, and I’ll definitely bring it up again. Microsoft is one of the few companies I know, especially the big ones, that explains how they run their IT. We have a fantastic, I mean really fantastic site that you should definitely

Visio Video (killed the radio star)

I teach a class at the University of Washington, and in that class I have the students create a few Entity Relationship Diagrams (ERDs). I’m still looking for a decent tool to do that, since the only ones I know that do a good job are WAY too expensive.

Create an Excel Graph of your Big Tables – with PowerShell!

I showed a demo of how to find the top ten tables in the database at the PASS Conference. Here’s that script – you’ll need to fix the server name, instance name, and database name. You can use this to display any numbers – and even more. The mind reels

Learning New Tech on SQL Server Virtualization – From Vendors

I’m at PASS this year, and one of the things I’ve learned this time is that I can learn from – the vendors!  Most of the “big” names are here, like Idera, Redgate, Quest, and more, but I ran into some folks yesterday I hadn’t spoken with before –

Find and learn DMVs

This morning I showed how I find DMVs, and find out how to use them. First, I just run this query:   USE MASTER; GO SELECT ‘sys.’ + name FROM sys.sysobjects WHERE name LIKE ‘dm%’   Then I copy and paste a result into the “Index” panel of Books

DBA? No – Data Professionals

I’m here at the Professional Association for SQL Server (PASS) this week, and I’m here in the keynote. A few days ago I ranted about the fact that DBA should be a Data Professional – not an administrator. I’ve heard a lot of response about that blog –
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Win7 – Install SQL Server Native or go Virtual PC?

I have Windows 7 on my laptop, and I also teach, demo and use SQL Server 2005 and SQL server 2008. Should I install this “native” on my outside operating system or use the Virtual PC (VPC) software that comes with Windows 7? Well, there are arguments

Don’t be a DBA – Be a Data Professional

I get asked quite frequently now about the “Cloud” technology and how it will affect the job of the DBA. The answer to that is pretty easy: If you’re “just a DBA”, then it will affect you a great deal. The fact that someone else will add users, take backups
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Templates for New Query Window

When I’m in SQL Server Management Studio and I click the “New Query” button, my Query Window comes up like this: /* <ScriptFileName, SYSNAME, ScriptFileName>.sql Purpose: <Purpose, SYSNAME, Purpose> Author: <Author, SYSNAME, Buck Woody>

Disaster Response and the Physical Plant

Near our home is a Dam about to break. It was built long ago, and even though millions were taxed and spent for it, little to none of that money ever got to the actual shoring up and maintaining the dam  over time (don’t get me started). Anyway,

How Normal(ized) Should You Be?

Normalization is the process of removing repeating values from your data design, and ensuring that the values depend on the Primary Key in the table. OK, it’s a bit more complicated than that, but this definition will do for this post. So how far DO you
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