My 12th book, Secret Tool Box of Successful Bloggers, shares 52 tips to build a high traffic, top ranking blog, based on what I learned here.
SQL Server emergency? Email pinal@sqlauthority.com with URGENT in the subject line.
SQL SERVER – How to See Active SQL Server Connections For Database
A reader asked which users are connected to a database and with how many connections. This short script lists active SQL Server connections by login.
JSON or Real Columns: Deciding Where Attributes Live
Putting everything in a JSON column is tempting. Here is what it costs in reads, type checks and null handling, and when to promote a property.
SQL SERVER – How to Force New Cardinality Estimation or Old Cardinality Estimation
Readers asked if the new estimator helps every query. I answer that and show how to force new or old cardinality estimation in SQL Server 2014.
SQL SERVER – Backing Up and Recovering the Tail End of a Transaction Log – Notes from the Field #042
Tail log backup confuses many people, even with the new hints on the restore screen. Learn how to back up and recover the tail end of a transaction log.
Cardinality Estimation and Performance: SQL in Sixty Seconds #072
Cardinality estimation and performance depend on each other: the optimizer guesses a row count, and that guess picks the plan and sets the reads. This post tests one query under the old and the new estimator on SQL Server 2025, shows where the new guess wins and where it loses, and explains how to switch estimators with the smallest possible change.
New Cardinality Estimation: What Changed Since 2014
The new cardinality estimation guesses row counts differently from the old one. This post tests both on SQL Server 2025 with one query, shows three switches that choose the model, and gives a safe way to upgrade.
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