How do you list all the clustered and nonclustered indexes of your table, including columnstore? Here is the script I use in my performance health checks.
SQL Server emergency? Email pinal@sqlauthority.com with URGENT in the subject line.
SQL SERVER – Log Shipping Monitor Not Getting Updated
The log shipping monitor stopped updating last_backup_file and last_backup_date for the primary, while every job ran fine. Here is how I traced it.
SQL SERVER – Error: 17142 – SQL Server Service has Been Paused. No New Connections Will be Allowed
What happens when you pause the SQL Server service? Error 17142 appears and no new connections are allowed, while existing users keep working. Here is the fix.
SQL SERVER – Puzzle – Why Does UNION ALL Work but UNION Produces Error?
A puzzle with TEXT columns: UNION ALL works fine, but UNION produces error. Can you tell why? The hint is in how UNION removes duplicates.
SQL SERVER – Slow Filestream Data Cleanup. What Should We Do?
Slow Filestream Data Cleanup can follow deletion when files are still ineligible for garbage collection. One customer was running out of space.
SQL SERVER – Historical SSMS Vulnerability Assessment and Current Availability
SQL Vulnerability Assessment was available in older SSMS releases. My walkthrough used SSMS 17.4 with SQL Server 2012 or later.
Restart Azure SQL Database: What Works and What Doesn’t
You can’t restart Azure SQL Database the way you restart SQL Server, because Microsoft runs the service. This post shows what to do instead: find and end the blocking session, scale the database, or trigger a failover. It tests the blocking query on a demo database and explains why a stack dump is not a restart.
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.
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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.

