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“.

Feb29

SQL SERVER – Unable to start SQL Server Agent – Failed to Initialize SQL Agent log

Pinal Dave

SQL Tips and Tricks

SQL Error Messages, SQL Scripts, SQL Server

My friend was researching with SQL Agent parameters and after sometime he called me and told that he is not able to start SQL Agent service. Here was the error in SSMS which is about failed to initialize a SQL Agent log.

Feb28

Interview Question of the Week #060 – What is the Difference Between EXCEPT Keyword and NOT IN?

Pinal Dave

SQL Interview Questions and Answers

SQL Scripts, SQL Server

Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to take many different interviews. Most of the DBA and Developers update their resume with various versions of the SQL Server. It seems like everybody had written SQL Server 2005 as one of their expertise. At this point of time, I remembered keyword EXCEPT which was introduced in SQL Server 2005 but not many people know about it. After interviewing, I realized that even after 11 years of release of SQL Server 2005 still most of the people do not know about EXCEPT keyword.

Feb27

SQL SERVER – AlwaysOn Availability Group Stuck in Resolving State For Long time

Pinal Dave

SQL Tips and Tricks

AlwaysOn, SQL Error Messages, SQL Server

What is resolving state in SQL Server AlwaysOn?

When there is an availability group, the replica would be either in primary state or secondary state – when its online in failover cluster manager. Resolving is an intermediate state when the transition is happening from primary to secondary or vice versa. If due to some reason the transition is not successful, it goes to “resolving” state. In this state, the database is not accessible.

Feb26

SQL SERVER – 2016 – Check Value as JSON With ISJSON()

Pinal Dave

SQL Tips and Tricks

JSON, SQL Scripts, SQL Server, SQL Server 2016

I have been wanting to write about the various operators that govern to use JSON and my first shot has been with: SQL SERVER – Getting started and creating JSON using SQL Server 2016. That was like a primer and as I see the subsequent releases of SQL Server 2016 CTP’s, I see more capabilities have been added to this. One of the most important tasks to do is to access the value that is represented in a JSON document. In this blog, let me talk about one of the most important function that can be used to validate / address if the document entered in JSON or not with the help of ISJSON().

Feb25

SQL SERVER – Boosting User Experience with Analysis Services Perspectives – Notes from the Field #116

Pinal Dave

SQL Tips and Tricks

Notes from the Field, SQL Analysis Services, SQL Backup and Restore, SQL Server, SSAS

[Note from Pinal]: This is a new episode of Notes from the Field series. When I was new to SSAS it took me quite a while to understand the various terminology of SSAS. The reason for the same was, I was from networking background and not familiar with many of the analytical terms. I am sure if you are not familiar with SSAS the very first line of this blog “Analysis Services Perspectives are a feature that enable the designer to control which portions of the data model are exposed to the users.” may be confusing. It is alright if you are not familiar with the concept, the goal of this blog post is to understand what is perspective and how it helps user experience.

Feb24

SQL SERVER – Free SQL Server Formatting Add-in

Pinal Dave

SQL

ApexSQL, SQL Server, SQL Utility

This article describes the ways in which you can format SQL code using ApexSQL Refactor features and options. Let us learn about SQL Server Formatting Add-in.

Feb23

SQL SERVER – How to Start SQL Server Service Without tempdb?

Pinal Dave

SQL Tips and Tricks

SQL Scripts, SQL Server, SQL TempDB

Before I start explaining the situation, I got into while experimenting with the SQL Server instance on my machine, let me air a word of caution – Please DONOT try this on your production environments. Unless you want to grab unwanted attention from your seniors, this is not something I would want you to ever experiment. In a recent configuration change on my local instance, I was facing an unique issue as I was standing in front of an audience for a SQL Server based session. Rarely does it happen that I get into Murphy’s law of demo not working in front of an audience because I carry multiple backups. Interestingly, this time when I tried to connect to the SQL Server using SSMS, it just refused to connect. I was completely taken aback and what happened after that is a different story about how to start SQL Server Service.

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.