SQL Server Articles

This article describes the changes to replication from the point of view of the SQL Server 2005 GUI. In case you haven’t already been checking out the new version, ‘Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio’ is the new graphical replacement for ‘Enterprise Manager’. It’s probably true to say that unlike many other administrative tasks, most DBAs [...]

Microsoft SQL Server introduced parallel query processing capability in version 7.0. The purpose of parallel query execution is to complete a query involving a large amount of data more quickly than possible with a single thread on computers with more than one processor. Books Online and various Microsoft documents describe the principles of parallel execution [...]

This article is a follow on to the original processor performance article I wrote, with analysis of processor performance results released in the last year. The original article explains many of details discussed here. Of the new material presented here: First, the range of results published for the TPC-C benchmark now allows meaningful analysis. Second, [...]

Many of us are interested in the features and changes in Yukon. A quick look shows some changes in the execution plan cost formulas for Yukon Beta 1. It is quite likely that more changes will be made between beta 1 and the final release. Most of the cost formulas appear not to have changed. [...]

I thought I knew SQL Server pretty well. I’ve been using the product for more than 6 years now, and I like to know my tools from the inside out. While teaching a SQL Server programming course, I noticed that the Microsoft material presented a lock compatibility table. The same table is presented at MSDN. [...]

You may find it hard to believe, but it is possible to maintain SQL Server high availability and not spend a fortune. In fact, you can spend a fortune and still not get SQL Server high availability. Sound like a paradox? Not really. SQL Server high availability is not a direct function of how much [...]

When I first started using SQL Server as a novice, I was initially confused as to the differences between clustered and non-clustered indexes. As a developer, and new DBA, I took it upon myself to learn everything I could about these index types, and when they should be used. This article is a result of [...]

If your AAA critical SQL server faces a memory board failure, how long will be the outage? How much will this cost your business in productivity and data availability to the users? Being a SQL Server DBA can be demanding and stressful, as the success of your application is often a function of your database [...]

In a two-cluster node Active / Active setup, if any one of the nodes fail, then the another active node will take over the active resources of the failed instance. It is always preferred while creating two-node cluster using Windows 2000 Advanced Server and Microsoft Clustering Service, that each node be connected to a shared [...]

Preparing Cluster Resource Groups As a first step, the DBA should list all server-based applications and services that will run within the cluster environment, regardless of whether they will need high availability. Applications and services that need to be highly available should be placed into resource groups. Other applications should be tracked, and their interactions [...]