Build a key-value cache with SCHEMA_ONLY memory-optimized tables, native get and set procedures, expiry checks, and bounded cleanup.
SQL Server emergency? Email pinal@sqlauthority.com with URGENT in the subject line.
Top Three Wait Stats and What Each One Means
The top three wait stats in the files people sent in were CXPACKET, SOS_SCHEDULER_YIELD and ASYNC_IO_COMPLETION. A small demo makes each wait happen and measures it with session wait statistics. The post explains what each one means and what to check next.
Wait Stats for Performance – SQL in Sixty Seconds #157
I finally decided to create a video on that topic on my SQL in Sixty Seconds Channel. I will create more videos on the topic Wait Stats for Performance.
Waits Since Restart: A Wait Stats Query With Uptime Rates
Waits since restart show where a SQL Server spends its waiting time. One query ranks the real waits, removes the idle ones, and adds the average wait, the signal share and a rate per hour of uptime. A table maps the common waits to the area to check next.
COUNT(*), COUNT(column) and COUNT(DISTINCT): Basics That Trip People
Why do two counts of the same table disagree? Five tiny demos show NULL, blank text, LEFT JOIN placeholders, bigint and join multiplication.
Ten Plan Operators Explained: An Operator Cheat Sheet
Seek, scan, lookup, three joins, sort, aggregate, spool and parallelism, each shown with a tiny demo. Learn to judge a plan by rows and executions.
SQL SERVER – Find Untrusted Foreign Key
An Untrusted Foreign key has not validated all existing rows. A customer bulk-load history prompted this inventory.
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.

