SQL Server emergency? Email pinal@sqlauthority.com with URGENT in the subject line.

Background Job Queue: List Active Jobs and Kill a Stats Job

The background job queue holds work that SQL Server runs outside your queries, such as asynchronous statistics updates. This post lists the active jobs, reads the queue counters, catches a real statistics job in a demo and kills it with KILL STATS JOB. It also corrects a common mix-up: the command takes the job ID, not the session ID.

Continue Reading

Compute Scalar Operators: Why a Computed Column Shows Two

A plan that reads a computed column shows two Compute Scalar operators, and the second one looks like a mistake. This post compares three tables in the plan text: an expression in the query, a computed column and a persisted computed column. It shows what each of the Compute Scalar operators defines and whether the extra operator costs anything.

Continue Reading