Trying to take a test database offline, we hit Msg 5061: ALTER DATABASE failed because a lock could not be placed on database. Here is how to fix it.
SQL Server emergency? Email pinal@sqlauthority.com with URGENT in the subject line.
SQL SERVER – OLE DB Provider ‘Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0’ for Linked Server ‘(null)’ Returned Message ‘Unspecified Error’
Reading Excel through OPENROWSET failed: the OLE DB provider for linked server (null) returned message ‘Unspecified error’. Here is how I fixed it.
How to Grow All Files in a File Group Equally? – TRACE FLAG 1117 – Interview Question of the Week #201
How do you grow all files in a file group equally? The answer is Trace Flag 1117, plus the AutoGrow option that SQL Server 2016 brought for filegroups.
SQL SERVER – Huge Size of SSISDB – Catalog Database SSISDB Cleanup Script
SSISDB grew huge on a client’s server. Here is my cleanup script for the SSISDB catalog database, and why I avoid scripts that modify system objects.
Schema Changes History Report: See Who Dropped a Table
The Schema Changes History report shows who created, altered or dropped a table. This post reads the same default trace with T-SQL, tests it on a table and a database drop, and explains the limits: file rollover and shared logins. It ends with ways to keep the history longer.
Columnstore Rowgroup Health: Finding Small and Open Rowgroups
Inspect columnstore rowgroup health, understand small and deleted groups, and choose reorganize or rebuild from measured evidence.
Multi-Statement Table-Valued Functions and Interleaved Execution
See how interleaved execution corrects estimates for multi-statement table-valued functions and when an inline rewrite wins.
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.