Picking the shard key is the hardest part of Database Sharding. Here are the guiding principles I shared at a user group for choosing a good one.
PowerShell – SQL Server Paging of Memory Identification
After a client case of memory pressure, I wrote a PowerShell script to spot SQL Server Paging, when SQL Server memory is being paged out to disk.
SQL SERVER – A Timeout (30000 milliseconds) was Reached While Waiting for a Transaction Response from the MSSQLSERVER
Event ID 7011: a timeout was reached while waiting for a transaction response from MSSQLSERVER. It happened when my client expanded an Oracle linked server.
How to Drop Clustered Index on Primary Key Column? – Interview Question of the Week #084
DROP INDEX fails with Msg 3723 on a primary key. Here is how to drop clustered index on a primary key column the right way, through the constraint.
SQL SERVER – Installation Fails With Error – A Constraint Violation Occurred
SQL Server cluster Installation Fails with ‘A constraint violation occurred’ as the network name won’t come online. I’ve fixed it for 10 clients.
SQL SERVER – Creating a Copy of Database in Azure SQL DB
A client wanted to tune a slow query on a copy, not on production. Here is how to create a copy of a database in Azure SQL DB and work on it safely.
Upsert Patterns in SQL Server Without Race Conditions
Compare upsert patterns under concurrent calls, protect missing-key ranges, test MERGE with HOLDLOCK, and keep unique keys as a guard.