How do you track autogrowth of any database? Constant autogrowth was slowing a client’s busy e-commerce database, and here is how we found when and who caused it.
How to Create an Empty Table and Fool Optimizer to Believe It Contains Data? – Interview Question of the Week #204
How do you create an empty table and fool the optimizer into thinking it has data? Nobody asked me that in 20 years, but I use this trick in Health Checks.
Diagnosing Blocking Chains With sys.dm_exec_requests
Trace blocking chains from active requests to a candidate head session, inspect sleeping transactions, and verify the owner before action.
Multi-Statement Table-Valued Functions and Interleaved Execution
See how interleaved execution corrects estimates for multi-statement table-valued functions and when an inline rewrite wins.
Video – Bert & Pinal Troubleshoot a Slow Performing SQL Server
At my 10th PASS Summit, Bert Wagner and I recorded a video on how to troubleshoot a slow performing SQL Server. Here it is, with a little of the story behind it.
Multi-Column Index Key Order: Which Column Goes First
Test index key order with equality, range, and OR predicates, then use seek predicates and logical reads to choose the lead column.
Does Sort Order in Index Column Matters for Performance? – Interview Question of the Week #199
Does the sort order in an index column matter for performance? Yes, in some specific scenarios, and here is an example from a recent Health Check question.