Test index key order with equality, range, and OR predicates, then use seek predicates and logical reads to choose the lead column.
SQL Server emergency? Email pinal@sqlauthority.com with URGENT in the subject line.
SQL SERVER – Initializing the FallBack Certificate Failed With Error Code: 1, State: 20, Error Number: 0
After a service account password change, SQL Server would not start: Initializing the FallBack certificate failed, error code 1. Here is the fix.
Does Sort Order in Index Column Matters for Performance? – Interview Question of the Week #199
Does the sort order in an index column matter for performance? Yes, in some specific scenarios, and here is an example from a recent Health Check question.
SQL SERVER – How to Escape a Single Quote in SQL Server?
In my earlier post on “How to Escape a Single Quote in SQL Server? – Interview Question of the Week #192 I showed you a method of escaping a single quote.
Deprecated System Tables: Replacing sysobjects and sysindexes
Old catalog views still answer, but their page counts can be far too small. A short demo shows the gap and how to replace them.
SQL SERVER – AlwaysOn – Queries Waiting for HADR_AR_CRITICAL_SECTION_ENTRY
After a Windows cluster briefly lost quorum, a client’s AlwaysOn queries got stuck waiting for HADR_AR_CRITICAL_SECTION_ENTRY. Here is how we fixed the wait.
SQL SERVER – Cluster Resource ‘AGName’ of type ‘SQL Server Availability Group’ in Clustered Role ‘AGName’ Failed
Configuring an availability group is easy; trouble starts when the cluster breaks. Here I fix a failed cluster resource of type SQL Server Availability Group.
SQL Server slow? Let's fix it together in about four hours.
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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.

