SQL Server triggers, tried in open court. The prosecution says they’re slow, hidden and wrong. The defence says they’re the only witness in the room. Four exhibits were measured on SQL Server 2025, and the judge rules at the end.
SQL Server Blocking at 2 a.m.: You Are the On-Call DBA
SQL Server blocking, told as a choose-your-own-path story. You are the on-call DBA. The phone has gone. The diagnosis and the kill were run in the lab on SQL Server 2025 and measured. The other branches are reasoned, and the text says which is which.
The Nightly Index Rebuild Job, 1998 to 2026: An Obituary
The nightly index rebuild job has died after a long illness. It was born in 1998 to a hard disk that could not seek. It never believed the disk had been replaced. It is survived by page density, which did most of its work all along.
Full, Differential and Log Backups: A Practical Guide
Full, differential and log backups are easy to define and easy to get wrong at 2 AM. This animated guide shows which ones to restore, and in what order.
SQL SERVER – Transaction Logs: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
Providing a comprehensive understanding of their role and potential issues. Let us learn about Transaction Logs: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.
VLF Growth Rules: How Many Virtual Log Files One Growth Adds
The VLF growth rules say how many virtual log files one log growth adds: one up to 64 MB, eight up to 1 GB, sixteen above. This post measures them on a demo database, shows a log with 68 VLFs from 1 MB steps, and repairs it by shrinking and growing once.
Log File Growth and Instant File Initialization: The 64 MB Rule
The 64 MB rule says log file growth can skip zeroing when instant file initialization is on, but only up to 64 MB. Two trace flags make the SQL Server error log show a 64 MB growth skipping the zeroing and a 65 MB growth zeroing in full. The last section says what to change.