SQL Server Performance Tuning Expert - SQL Authority with Pinal Dave

Is your SQL Server running slow and you want to speed it up without sharing server credentials? In my Comprehensive Database Performance Health Check, we can work together remotely and resolve your biggest performance troublemakers in less than 4 hours.

Once you learn my business secrets, you will fix the majority of problems in the future.

Have you ever opened any PowerPoint deck when you face SQL Server Performance Tuning emergencies? SQL Server Performance Tuning Practical Workshop is my MOST popular training with no PowerPoint presentations and 100% practical demonstrations.

Essentially I share my business secrets to optimize SQL Server performance.

An Index Reduces Performance of SELECT Queries (Video)
3 Common Mistakes to Kill SQL Server Performance (Video)
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For SQL Server Emergency Help, you can reach out to me at pinal@sqlauthority.com with words URGENT in the email subject line for other services mention “Comprehensive Database Performance Health Check“.

Mar14

SQL SERVER – Installing SQL Server Management Studio 2016 – Step by Step

Pinal Dave

SQL Tips and Tricks

SQL Server, SQL Server 2016, SQL Server Management Studio

New versions bring new learning. To keep myself up-to-date, I have downloaded RC0 (release candidate zero) for SQL Server 2016 and while installing SQL Server I was surprised to see the feature list. Installing these bits were something I was wanting to do as we are getting closer to the release date. But something got me by surprise though, check the screenshot shown below, there is no mention of SQL Server Management Studio 2016:

Mar13

Interview Question of the Week #062 – How to Find Table Without Clustered Index (Heap)?

Pinal Dave

SQL Interview Questions and Answers

Clustered Index, SQL Constraint and Keys, SQL Scripts, SQL Server

Question: How to Find Table Without Clustered Index (heap)?

Answer: In SQL Server, when we create a primary key it automatically creates clustered index on the table, unless we explicitly mentioned not to create one. Due to this reason, the most of the table where there is a primary key, there are good chances it is also a clustered index key.

Mar12

SQL SERVER – Installation Error – File Format is Not Valid

Pinal Dave

SQL Tips and Tricks

File format, SQL Error Messages, SQL Server

The reason I love consulting is because I get to see many flavors of the problems. This new avatar for me is pushing the limits to how I keep learning technologies. My recent interaction with client has shown one more error and another angle to look at a problem. Though some of these errors are new, it is a great way to understand how SQL Server actually works. In this blog post we will see Installation Error.

Mar11

Comparison – Understanding Tables Between Oracle and SQL Server

Pinal Dave

SQL Tips and Tricks

Oracle, SQL Server

Oracle has a Heap-organized table which SQL Server calls “Heap”
Oracle’s “Clustered” tables are called “Indexed Views” in SQL Server
Both Oracle and SQL Server have “Partition” & “Temporary” tables
Oracle’s “External” tables are called “Linked Servers” in SQL Server.
Oracle’s “Object” table is called “Table Type” in SQL Server.
Oracle’s “Index-organized” tables are referred to as a “Clustered index” in SQL Server.
Oracle does not have an equivalent/term for SQL Server’s In-Memory OLTP table
And Oracle’s “Hybrid columnar” compressed tables are called “Column store clustered index” in SQL Server.

Mar10

SQL SERVER – The NOLOCK Question – Notes from the Field #117

Pinal Dave

SQL Tips and Tricks

Notes from the Field, SQL Server, SQL Server Security, SQL Statistics

[Note from Pinal]: This is a 117th episode of Notes from the Field series. Everytime I go to do performance tuning consultancy, one thing annoys me and makes me angry. The usage of NOLOCK hint. I think without any argument, this is one of the most abused query hint in the SQL Server universe. Lots of people treat NOLOCK as a silver bullet of performance tuning and that is unfortunate. There is a special purpose of how NOLOCK should be used and what is the end goal of it.

In this episode of the Notes from the Field series database expert Stuart Ainsworth explains about NOLOCK and its best practices. Trust me, you do not want to overuse NOLOCK hint as it can just impact your database integrity negatively.

Mar9

SQL SERVER – ApexSQL Generate – SQL Server Test Data Generation

Pinal Dave

SQL

ApexSQL, SQL Server, SQL Utility

No Comments

ApexSQL Generate is a test data generation tool for SQL Server. In this article, we’ll introduce the tools’ core features, describe the main types of generators, walk you through an example and, finally, cover some advanced features.

Mar8

SQL SERVER – syspolicy_purge_history job failing step: Erase Phantom System Health Records

Pinal Dave

SQL Tips and Tricks

SQL Error Messages, SQL Server, SQL Server Management Studio

Getting back to consulting mode has got my newer clients and bigger challenges. Not only that I am seeing interests for some of the greatest and latest versions, but some clients are sitting on an older version of SQL Server requiring some serious help for trivial issues. One of my clients has asked to consult for a quick error message troubleshooting in the recent past. Since it was an interesting one about syspolicy_purge_history job, I am sharing it via the blog.

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 14 SQL Server database books and 104 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 an experienced and dedicated professional with a deep commitment to flawless customer service. If you need help with any SQL Server Performance Tuning Issues, please feel free to reach out at pinal@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.