One of my clients approached me to provide assistance in performance tuning – which is my bread and butter these days. Often once you get into an engagement, they try to maximize the time they get with me. While doing the tuning exercise, the DBA had a side question during the call. Let us learn about how setup is not able to access domain.
How to Insert Multiple Rows in a Single SQL Query – Interview Question of the Week #069
There are so many different databases in the world and many of them use the language SQL for their programming. It is very easy to assume that if they are using SQL, we can easily use code from one database to another database. Unfortunately the reality is very different, not all the scripts from one database works in another database. Today we will see very interesting question where the user asked a question about inserting multiple rows in a single SQL query.
SELECT One by Two – Interview Question Extended – Part II
The puzzles are interesting and in most cases, if we try to play around a little bit more, many more interesting extensions can be added. A couple of weeks back, I wrote a round – SELECT One by Two – Why Does SELECT 1/2 Returns 0 – Interview Question of the Week #067. It brought some good interactions as comments over the blog and I was happy we were all excited about something as simple as this.
Understanding Database Scalability – Vertical and Horizontal
Since I have started my consulting engagements with customers around the world, I have been asked interesting queries from time to time. In a recent customer call, the customer insisted I assist them in taking a call on if they need to buy one server with 64 cores or if they need to buy 2 servers of 32 cores. I had to explain that it is always not that simple to answer the same. After close to 30 mins of conversation they understood finally what I was talking. I took a moment to blog about this engaging conversation about database scalability.
Hey DBAs – What Are You Assuming/Missing Today? – Notes from the Field #122
[Note from Pinal]: This is a 122nd episode of Notes from the Field series. This story about Shepherd DBA, Teacher and Mentor. If you know Mike Walsh, he is an amazing person to meet and know. He is a technical expert, but along with that he is a true life coach. I am fortunate to be his friend. Every single time I meet him, I learn something as a human. In this episode of “Hey DBAs” Mike explains one of the most important things any DBAs should learn, which is to say “I Don’t Know”.
SQL SERVER – Computed Column and Conditions with Case Statement
When I do not find anything on my blog, I write a blog post about it, so next time I do not have to recreate the scripts from the beginning. Just another day, I was doing performance tuning for an organization, I had to create a computed column with CASE statement and I suddenly realize that I do not have such a script on my blog so I decided to write a blog post on this subject.
SQL SERVER – Identify Table Where Clustered Index is Not a Primary Key – DMV
Let us first see script which will return us tablename with schema where clustered index is not a primary key.
SQL SERVER – What is WRK file in Log Shipping?
Several customers use log shipping for disaster recovery across a remote data center. If you are reading this blog, I would assume that you already know SQL Server log shipping If you don’t, then please go through online resources to read the basics. Here is an interesting fact which I learned recently about the WRK file in log shipping. I know some of these are around as theory, but there is no concrete way to understand the nuances of what these files actually mean.
What is Difference Between HAVING and WHERE – Interview Question of the Week #068
I do a performance tuning consulting to earn my livelihood. Once in a while, I end up customer who wants to interview me to check if I know SQL. I absolutely have no problem with the interview. This is a good thing and it gives me confidence that they are serious with their project. With said that once in a while the senior guys on the other side are so busy they end up having my interview with junior (novice) experts. I often struggle with this interview question and answer with beginners because my answers are based on experience and they often do not match what they have learned in school/collage.
PowerShell Script – Backup Every Database In SQL Server
Using scripts can be a powerful way to automate things that a GUI will fail in many cases. I was working with a client who wanted to write a PowerShell script that would help him automate his backups. This is a pretty simple requirement that can be easily achieved using SMO as shown below in my scripts. I have been using these scripts for a number of years at various places. Let us see how we can backup every database in SQL Server