An upgrade could not start SQL Server: Cannot drop the assembly ‘ISSERVER’, because it does not exist or you do not have permission. Here is another way to fix it.
SQL Server emergency? Email pinal@sqlauthority.com with URGENT in the subject line.
What is Consolidation of Index? – Interview Question of the Week #212
What is consolidation of index? When a table has overlapping indexes, like one on Col1 and one on Col1, Col2, here is how I think about combining them.
SQL SERVER – Enabling Older Legacy Cardinality Estimation
Legacy Cardinality Estimation temporarily stabilized one customer memory-grant problem. A query waited on RESOURCE_SEMAPHORE while the instance became unresponsive.
Current Language of a SQL Server Session: How to Check It
To find the current language of a SQL Server session, read @@LANGUAGE or @@LANGID, or query sys.dm_exec_sessions. This post tests each one, switches the session to German and British, and shows how the language changes month names and how text turns into dates.
Visual Studio – FIX: The ‘SqlStudio Profile Package’ Package Did Not Load Correctly
Launching Visual Studio on my VM failed with: The ‘SqlStudio Profile Package’ package did not load correctly. I gathered a list of fixes that can solve it.
SQL SERVER – Availability Group Seen in SSMS but missing in Cluster Manager. What’s Wrong?
A client’s availability group showed in SSMS, but no role appeared in Failover Cluster Manager. Here is the sequence of steps that causes this and what to do.
SQL SERVER – Say No To Database Engine Tuning Advisor
I review Database Engine Tuning Advisor recommendations against the workload before applying them. That was the point behind my original opinion.
SQL Server slow? Let's fix it together in about four hours.
In my Comprehensive Database Performance Health Check, you share your screen, I guide you, and we fix your biggest performance troublemakers. No passwords. No remote access.
You keep every script, and the know-how to fix it yourself next time.
Want your whole team to learn it?
My Practical Workshop has no PowerPoint, just live demos. My AI Enablement Workshop shows your team where AI saves hours, and where it quietly costs them.
Over 400 customers have worked with me this way, and not one shared a password. See all consulting options.
Who We Are
Pinal Dave is an SQL Server Performance Tuning Expert and independent consultant with over 24 years of hands-on experience. He holds a Masters of Science degree and numerous database certifications.
Pinal has authored 19 books and 125 Pluralsight courses. To freely share his knowledge and help others build their expertise, Pinal has also written more than 5,800 database tech articles on his blog at https://blog.sqlauthority.com.
Pinal is also a CrossFit Level 1 Trainer (CF-L1) and CrossFit Level 2 Trainer (CF-L2).
Nupur Dave is a social media enthusiast and an independent consultant. She primarily focuses on the database domain, helping clients build short and long-term multi-channel campaigns to drive leads for their sales pipeline.
Shaivi Pinalkumar Dave is a book author and a women’s artistic gymnast.

