How to find the query that ran at 3 a.m. after the fact. It uses nothing but what SQL Server 2025 keeps on its own. I planted a culprit, gave it eight disguises and buried it in four hundred innocent lookups. Then I tracked it down with Query Store. This is the poster.
Real-Time Troubleshooting Views That Turn DMV Data Into Answers
Real-time troubleshooting views turn raw DMV data into something a DBA can act on at 9 PM. Here is what belongs in them, how often to collect it, and why wait stats need deltas, not totals.
Trace Flag 3226: Keeping Backup Messages Out of the Error Log
Check trace flag 3226, understand suppressed backup success messages, and use msdb history to monitor backups without log noise.
Chatty Applications: Finding Many Tiny Queries per Second
Diagnose chatty applications with batch rates, cached executions, bounded session event counts, and measured round trips per user action.
Heartbeat Gaps: Finding Missing Check-Ins With LAG
Detect missing check-ins with LAG, report closed heartbeat gaps, and find silent or never-seen sources using an explicit UTC tolerance.
Agent Jobs Running Longer Than Usual: Finding Them in Job History
Find Agent jobs running longer than usual by decoding history durations, comparing current activity, and alerting against a baseline.
Reading Performance Counters in T-SQL Without Misreading Them
Read SQL Server performance counters with two timed samples, a proper ratio base, and a concise workload and memory dashboard.