Availability groups or failover cluster instances protect different SQL Server boundaries; compare data copies, shared storage, failover, and cost.
SQL Server emergency? Email pinal@sqlauthority.com with URGENT in the subject line.
SQL SERVER – CTRL+SHIFT+] Shortcut to Select Code Between Two Parenthesis
CTRL+SHIFT+] in SSMS lets you select code between two parenthesis, handy for subqueries and CTEs. Here is how it works at a few cursor positions.
SQL SERVER – NTFS File System Performance for SQL Server
A reader asked how to tune the NTFS File System for an 80 GB SQL Server box. I start a list of best practices, like disabling disk indexing; help me finish it.
Find SQL Server Installation Date and Time with T-SQL
The SQL Server Installation Date is the create date of the NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM login, and one short query reads it. This post compares that clue with other dates that look right but aren’t, shows how to work out an Evaluation expiry date, and lists the cases where the clue is wrong.
Comment T-SQL in SSMS: SQL in Sixty Seconds #019
You can comment T-SQL in SSMS with a keyboard shortcut, a toolbar button or the Edit menu. The tests here show nested block comments, an UPDATE that lost its WHERE clause, a dangling comma after a commented column, and an unclosed comment, on SQL Server 2025.
SQL SERVER – Monitoring SQL Server Database Transaction Log Space Growth – DBCC SQLPERF(logspace) – Puzzle for You
Old but still my favorite: DBCC SQLPERF(logspace) to monitor transaction log space growth, saved with the time of each snapshot. Plus a puzzle for you.
SQL Authority News – Weekend Project – Visiting Friend’s Company
My first Weekend Project: visiting a friend’s technical institute, which has grown into many cities with classes on BI, project management and networking.
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.
Want your whole team to learn it?
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.

