SQL SERVER Management Studio – Taking DB Offline Made Easier

I have an appetite to observe and learn from what happens around me more. These are the best ways we realize how life has been gifted to us. Since I have been traveling lately like mad with families where there has been enough vacation filled with some work sporadically, I got to see how my family enjoys the moment they have in hand. I know it is difficult to get the fee time, but it is a great break from the norm. In my recent Europe trip with my family, I was to travel in a train for close to 3+ hours and I was wondering what I am going to do. Obviously, I had some books to kill my time, but I chose not to do that because my daughter was around. As we boarded the train and started our journey, the initial excitement moved to become “What next?”. As I started to think, I saw my daughter quickly jump into her grandfather’s seat and started to say something and they both got busy watching the sky. Getting curious, I was trying to figure out what both were up to. Interestingly, my daughter made-up a game to create shapes and characters from the moving clouds. And both got busy. Let us learn in this blog post how we can take a database offline.

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SQL SERVER – How to Find the In-Memory OLTP Tables Memory Usage on the Server

When I presented at the SQLPASS this year there were several learning that I found it interesting. Every year, this presentation preparation is something I take it seriously. I know many them turn up to learn some new tricks every single year. Hence, I invest considerable amount of time to prepare. This year I showcased several tips and tricks involving SQL Server In-Memory OLTP capability. I personally feel this feature is lesser known and never appreciated. As I was doing the session, one of the DBA asked how to find out the memory utilization of various In-Memory OLTP tables.

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SQL SERVER – Playing with Backups and Compression

The era of innovation with SQL Server administration side of things keep happening, it is strange that a lot of us miss these capabilities getting added into the system. I have seen processes define the way how DBA’s work. In a lot of places, the processes, scripts and behaviors are brought forward without a second thought. I wanted to share a recent story that happened at one of my client’s place. Let us talk my experience about playing with backups and compressions.

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SQL SERVER – System Function @@IDLE to Find System Ideal Time

Just the other day I got an email with user asking how do the @@idle function work with SQL Server as when he runs them it gives him some number but the number is not easy to interpret. I totally agree with the observation. When I was new to SQL Server, the best learning resource available was SQL Server Books On Line. I used to read Books On Line and learn quite a bit from it.

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SQL SERVER – Stop Growing MSDB Database by Removing sysmail_mailitems History

Received an email “Need your urgent help On Demand, our MSDB Database has grown too big and we need help to check our sysmail_mailitems table. We are also facing performance issues.” I have been an independent consultant for a while and one of the services I provide is “On Demand (50 minutes)” service. This service is very helpful for organizations who are in need immediate help with their performance tuning issue. Though, I have set working ours for my regular clients, every single day, I keep two hours available for this particular offering. This way, I can make sure that anyone who urgently needs my help, can avail the same.

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