http://sqlsoldier.net/wp News From the Front Lines Tue, 13 Mar 2018 15:17:27 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.5 113057960 http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/tsqltuesday100whatsnewwithscalabilitygroupsinsqlserver2026 http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/tsqltuesday100whatsnewwithscalabilitygroupsinsqlserver2026#respond Tue, 13 Mar 2018 15:17:27 +0000 http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/?p=4141 Welcome to T-SQL Tuesday #100. In a community filled with ADD people like the SQL community (myself included), who would have guessed that T-SQL Tuesday would still be going strong years later? Other attempts at similar recurring themed posts have been attempted (I can’t even remember their names), but none had the staying power of T-SQL Tuesday. I have enjoyed writing blogs for the event and even hosted a couple of times. Fittingly, the host for T-SQL Tuesday #100 is]]> http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/tsqltuesday100whatsnewwithscalabilitygroupsinsqlserver2026/feed 0 4141 http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/tsqltuesday99whatsbehinddoor1 http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/tsqltuesday99whatsbehinddoor1#respond Tue, 13 Feb 2018 14:59:50 +0000 http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/?p=4125 It’s hard to believe that we have reached T-SQL Tuesday #99 already. This month’s host is Aaron Bertrand (blog|@AaronBertrand), and he is giving us 2 choices to choose from for the theme of our posts. Door #1 is about #sqlibrium or what you are passionate about outside of SQL Server and data. Or if you’d rather keep your post technical rather than personal, door #2 is to write about T-SQL bad habits. For my contribution, I have elected to go]]> http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/tsqltuesday99whatsbehinddoor1/feed 0 4125 http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/newyearsresolutionsforthisdba http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/newyearsresolutionsforthisdba#respond Tue, 02 Jan 2018 13:18:44 +0000 http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/?p=4112 It’s a new year, and if you read my post almost 2 week’s ago, you know that I’ve already started making changes. What you may not have realized is that the job change was an important step in realizing the changes I had resolved to make. This list is a simple one: Spend less time working. Spend more time with my wife and our dog.]]> http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/newyearsresolutionsforthisdba/feed 0 4112 http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/hownottosellsoftwareataleofbadsales http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/hownottosellsoftwareataleofbadsales#respond Fri, 29 Dec 2017 21:54:04 +0000 http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/?p=4107 Naming no names here, but I want to talk about a really horrible sales call I had recently. Well, the horribleness started with the call, but continued afterward. There was part of me that wanted to tell the vendor during the call to put their software someplace protected from the sun and hang up on them, but I didn’t. I want to tell others about this vendor’s sales process so they don’t make the same mistakes this one did. Here]]> http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/hownottosellsoftwareataleofbadsales/feed 0 4107 http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/westboundanddownrollemupandtruckin http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/westboundanddownrollemupandtruckin#comments Wed, 20 Dec 2017 05:39:48 +0000 http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/?p=4095 A little less than 2 years ago, my wife and I loaded up our cats and dog and moved from the Seattle area on the west coast to New York City on the east coast. It was quite an experience. Turns out the old saying was true. More money did not equal more happiness. So now we are embarking on road trip part 2.]]> http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/westboundanddownrollemupandtruckin/feed 1 4095 http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/timezonesareadragseriously http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/timezonesareadragseriously#comments Fri, 24 Nov 2017 14:03:44 +0000 http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/?p=4075 Time Zones were definitely being a drag today. I got an email from one of the developers at work asking about the performance difference between 2 queries. The only difference between the 2 queries is that one of them uses the AT TIME ZONE clause that was added in SQL Server 2016. I have not played around with this particular clause, but we do store quite a bit of data in the datetimeoffset data type. In the table in the]]> http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/timezonesareadragseriously/feed 1 4075 http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/tsqltuesday96thankyoufortakingthetime http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/tsqltuesday96thankyoufortakingthetime#comments Tue, 14 Nov 2017 16:43:25 +0000 http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/?p=4068 A lot of people have made a difference in my career. A LOT! I don’t think we ever thank those that make a difference as much as we should. Often, it’s not until years later when you look back on your career and reflect on how you got from where you used to be to where you are now that you really realize how much help you had along the way. Sometimes that help is incidental or accidental.]]> http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/tsqltuesday96thankyoufortakingthetime/feed 1 4068 http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/presentationfilesformywebcastontroubleshootingconnectionproblems http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/presentationfilesformywebcastontroubleshootingconnectionproblems#comments Fri, 10 Nov 2017 13:53:19 +0000 http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/?p=4062 Thanks to everybody who attended my webcast Troubleshooting SQL Server Connection Issues yesterday. If you missed it, the recording will be available soon on the MSSQL Tips website. The slide deck and demo code will also be available with the recording, or you can download it below. Slide deck: TroubleshootingSQLServerConnectionIssues.]]> http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/presentationfilesformywebcastontroubleshootingconnectionproblems/feed 1 4062 http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/checkoutmytipsforfridayblogseries http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/checkoutmytipsforfridayblogseries#respond Fri, 27 Oct 2017 16:38:06 +0000 http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/?p=4035 In case you missed, I started a new blog series several weeks ago called 5 Tips for Friday on SQL Server Best Practices. Every Friday I post a set of 5 best practices on a particular topic. The topic changes from week-to-week. This week’s topic is database configurations: 5 Tips for Friday:]]> http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/checkoutmytipsforfridayblogseries/feed 0 4035 http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/necessityisthemotherofautomation http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/necessityisthemotherofautomation#respond Wed, 25 Oct 2017 17:36:52 +0000 http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/?p=4029 If you have worked with me or are a frequent reader of my blogs or a frequent attendee of my presentations, you know I hate doing things manually. Over my career, I have found that one of the biggest enemies of automation is being able to get someone else to do it manually. If you can get someone else to do the work, it’s not your problem, right? I have seen manual processes linger on for years when it could]]> http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/necessityisthemotherofautomation/feed 0 4029 http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/webcasttroubleshootingsqlserverconnectionissues http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/webcasttroubleshootingsqlserverconnectionissues#comments Mon, 23 Oct 2017 18:50:53 +0000 http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/?p=4024 I will be doing a live webcast on Thursday, November 9th 2017 at 3 PM Eastern Time (8 PM UTC time) on Troubleshooting SQL Server Connection Issues. The description for the presentation is below. Hope to you all there. Registration is required to attend. Description Whenever a connection to SQL Server fails, it’s usually blamed on SQL Server by default.]]> http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/webcasttroubleshootingsqlserverconnectionissues/feed 1 4024 http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/podcastwithsqldatapartnersonpatchingbestpractices http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/podcastwithsqldatapartnersonpatchingbestpractices#respond Mon, 23 Oct 2017 14:14:39 +0000 http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/?p=4021 Recently, I joined Carlos L Chacon (site|@CarlosLChacon), Steve Stedman (blog|@SqlEmt), and the rest of the SQL Data Partners Podcast team for their podcast show and the episode went live earlier this month. We talked about best practice and the reality of patching SQL Server. Check out the podcast to get my take on keeping up with patching and see Carlos’ write-up on the podcast to see what you can expect from it. Episode 112: Keeping up with patching]]> http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/podcastwithsqldatapartnersonpatchingbestpractices/feed 0 4021 http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/checklistdrplansanitycheck http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/checklistdrplansanitycheck#comments Mon, 04 Sep 2017 12:56:31 +0000 http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/?p=3931 If a disaster struck tomorrow, are you ready for it? Are you sure you thought of everything? I cannot count the number of times something happened, and I thought that I should have been able to anticipate that. It can be a big benefit to get another viewpoint on your disaster plan. No matter how well you think you’ve covered yourself, someone who thinks about things differently than you do can often see something you don’t.]]> http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/checklistdrplansanitycheck/feed 1 3931 http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/31daysofdisasterrecoveryrevisited http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/31daysofdisasterrecoveryrevisited#respond Fri, 18 Aug 2017 15:14:21 +0000 http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/?p=3900 A few years ago, I did a blog post series dedicated to disaster recovery (backups, restores, corruption, etc). 31 blog posts dedicated to the topic (though not 31 days in a row) have been compiled into a 75 page eBook that can be downloaded from the new website SQL Server Best Practices.]]> http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/31daysofdisasterrecoveryrevisited/feed 0 3900 http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/patchingsqlserverandssmsordermatters http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/patchingsqlserverandssmsordermatters#respond Mon, 14 Aug 2017 12:09:11 +0000 http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/?p=3908 If you’ve been living under a rock, you may not have noticed how frequently SSMS is getting updated. The SQL Team is really rocking over at Microsoft putting out fixes and enhancements fast and furious. When CUs (cumulative updates) and SPs (service packs) come out, it makes sense to install the latest SSMS update at the same time (if you put SSMS on your servers). If applying both an SP or CU along with an SSMS update, order does matter.]]> http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/patchingsqlserverandssmsordermatters/feed 0 3908 http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/tsqltuesday933jobsididnttakeand1idid http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/tsqltuesday933jobsididnttakeand1idid#comments Tue, 08 Aug 2017 13:59:53 +0000 http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/?p=3903 It’s T-SQL Tuesday again, and this month’s host is Kendra Little (blog|@), and the excellent topic selected by Kendra is Interviewing Patterns & Anti-Patterns. When I logged on to Twitter this morning, the first tweet I saw was for Brent Ozar’s (@BrentO) post The DBA Job I Turned Down. It was another great post from Brent, and I was inspired to write about a similar topic. For my contribution to this T-SQL Tuesday is 3 Jobs I Didn’t Take, and]]> http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/tsqltuesday933jobsididnttakeand1idid/feed 1 3903 http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/reallifesqlserverperformancetroubleshootingatsqlsaturdaycolumbus http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/reallifesqlserverperformancetroubleshootingatsqlsaturdaycolumbus#respond Mon, 26 Jun 2017 12:02:00 +0000 http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/?p=3748 Join me Friday, July 21, 2017 for a day of Real-life SQL Server Performance Troubleshooting as part of SQLSaturday Columbus at Otterbein University Campus Center in Columbus, OH. Register for SQLSaturday Columbus before it fills up, and check out the early bird pricing for the pre-conference sessions the day before. Description: Tired of talking about theory and want to hear about real production SQL Server issues and the methods I used to troubleshoot them? We’ll take a look at real]]> http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/reallifesqlserverperformancetroubleshootingatsqlsaturdaycolumbus/feed 0 3748 http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/thedeathofthedbainadevopsworldhavebeengreatlyexaggerated http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/thedeathofthedbainadevopsworldhavebeengreatlyexaggerated#respond Tue, 09 May 2017 15:11:42 +0000 http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/?p=3735 It’s time for another iteration of the blog party known as T-SQL Tuesday. This month’s theme is Shipping Database Changes hosted by James Anderson (|@). Head on over to John’s announcement post and join in with the party by writing your own post or by just reading those that are participating. The topic of database changes put me in mind of a recent discussion on a professional SQL Server related discussion list. Someone sent an email declaring the DBA role]]> http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/thedeathofthedbainadevopsworldhavebeengreatlyexaggerated/feed 0 3735 http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/whylogshippingisbetterthandatabasemirroringformigrations http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/whylogshippingisbetterthandatabasemirroringformigrations#comments Fri, 05 May 2017 12:25:30 +0000 http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/?p=3727 This topic has come up several times recently, so I feel the need to blog on it. As the person who wrote the book on Database Mirroring, it will probably come as a surprise to many of you that I believe that log shipping is a much better tool for database migrations than database mirroring. I’m not just talking about the fact that database mirroring is deprecated (since SQL Server 2012) and log shipping is not. Both are still in]]> http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/whylogshippingisbetterthandatabasemirroringformigrations/feed 2 3727 http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/24hoursofpasssecuritysessionfiles http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/24hoursofpasssecuritysessionfiles#respond Thu, 04 May 2017 12:37:48 +0000 http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/?p=3721 Thanks to everyone who attended my presentation for the 24 Hours of PASS event on May 3rd. This iteration of the event was wholly focused on security, and my presentation was Securing SQL Server Processes with Certificates. If you missed it, the sessions were recorded and will be posted on the PASS website soon. In the meantime, the slide deck and demo code can be downloaded below. Slide deck:]]> http://sqlsoldier.net/wp/sqlserver/24hoursofpasssecuritysessionfiles/feed 0 3721