Play by Play with Pinal Dave was my birthday gift on July 30, 2014: a Pluralsight course that shows how I tune SQL Server performance on a real problem. This post tells why I made it and what each of the five modules covers.
Scalar UDF Inlining: When Old Functions Suddenly Get Fast
Check scalar UDF inlining eligibility, database settings, function options, and execution plans before claiming a performance improvement.
Constant Folding: Expressions the Optimizer Solves Before Running
SQL Server does the math on your literals once, while it builds the plan. Here is where that helps, and where it quietly stops.
Foreign Keys Without Indexes: Finding and Fixing Slow Deletes
Find foreign keys without indexes, inspect parent-delete plans, and choose leading child-table keys that support relationship checks.
Explain a SQL Server Index in Sixty Seconds, Then Prove It
How to explain a SQL Server index in an interview in about a minute, then prove every word with one table. On SQL Server 2025, the same query read 5,737 pages with no index, 133 with a plain index and 3 with a covering index. Three extra indexes doubled the log of 20,000 inserts.
Vertical Partitioning: Moving Rarely Used Columns Off a Hot Table
Moving rarely used columns to a side table can cut reads, or change nothing. Here is how to measure it and what it costs your writes.
Slow SQL Server? Three Queries to Run in the First Minute
A slow SQL Server needs a quick look before any deep tuning. Three queries, using only what SQL Server ships, show what is running, which session sits at the head of a blocking chain and what the server is waiting on. Every result here comes from a slowdown staged on SQL Server 2025.