A forgotten BEGIN TRAN can pin your log for hours. Here is how to find the owner, read its age, and confirm the transaction is the reason.
SQL Server emergency? Email pinal@sqlauthority.com with URGENT in the subject line.
Memory-Optimized tempdb Metadata: Turning It On and Checking It
Diagnose memory-optimized tempdb metadata candidates, plan the required restart, verify activation, and monitor contention and memory.
The Handful of Counters That Actually Matter
Make SQL Server monitoring useful by relating waits, batch activity, memory indicators, and file latency to the same workload and observation window.
Peak Concurrency: The Busiest Moment From Start and End Times
Counting sessions per day tells you nothing about overlap. Here is a small event-sweep query that finds the busiest moment, with the tie trap explained.
Pulling Values Out of Text With REGEXP_SUBSTR and REGEXP_INSTR
Extract codes with REGEXP_SUBSTR in SQL Server 2025, locate matches, select occurrences and capture groups, and validate text boundaries.
How to check the ANSI Compatibility of SQL Server Queries? – Interview Question of the Week #221
How do you check the ANSI compatibility of SQL Server queries? A client asked me this unique question, and the FIPS standard helps keep your code portable.
Docker Volume for SQL Server: Keep Your Data Across Upgrades
A Docker volume keeps SQL Server data outside the container, so you can replace the container and keep every database. This post creates a named volume, copies a backup into it and upgrades by starting a newer image on the same volume. It also covers the cautions that protect your data.
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