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.
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.
Install the WideWorldImporters Sample Database
To install the WideWorldImporters sample database, restore its backup file in SSMS and check the files and the row counts. This post explains the Full and Standard versions, the disk space you need, the permission trap, and three queries that prove the install worked.
Install SSMS: Setup and First Connection
To install SSMS, download the installer, run it, and connect to your server. This post explains why SSMS is separate from the SQL Server engine, how to fill in the first connection, what to do about the certificate error, and how to check the connection with one query.
SQL SERVER – Error: 14258 – Cannot perform this operation while SQLServerAgent is starting. Try again later
A client could not run any job and got Error 14258: Cannot perform this operation while SQLServerAgent is starting. Here is what caused it and how we fixed it.