Index Optimization and Statistics Appropriate indexes are often critical for optimal query performance. Looking on the internet for directives for index optimization can be pretty helpful. Here is an interesting Conundrum for any DBA. One site tells you to create multiple indexes on individual columns for performance; SQL Server will join the different indexes as necessary and utilize the intersection […]

Performance Monitor Counters There are many good blogs, white papers, and support tools available on the internet helping you measure the performance of your Windows and SQL Server services. Using the Performance Monitor utility in Windows you can gather metrics about so many aspects of your server enabling you to identify areas with good or bad performance characteristics. The majority […]

Is TechNet a Big Deal? Based on the feedback we have received it appears that TechNet has been an essential resource for many. Ed: For me this means no more test lab at home. I can justify the cost of TechNet for a test lab, but I cannot justify the cost of MSDN. I can justify the time needed to […]

–Microsoft to Retire TechNet Subscriptions I first started using TechNet in 1991. My company was exploring this new concept of Client/Server, having been entrenched in Main Frame systems, and was not willing to invest thousands of dollars in hardware and software for a learning exercise. As a result, they used the first release of SQL Server, still owned by Sybase, […]

Application Logging with XML I ran a series of editorials a while back on application logging. We considered what kinds of data and events needed to be logged. Some shared techniques used to maintain a history of changes, or log events. Today Scott is catching up with his old Email and shares with us some experience he has had using […]

Hidden Blocking Blocking occurs when you program must discontinue execution while waiting for a resource shared by another process. As our CPUs continue to grow the number of available cores and/or processors, this issue continues to grow. SQL Server takes advantage of multiple processors, and may be susceptible to blocking. Built into SQL Server Management Studio are a number of […]

DMVs to the Rescue Recently I had a database server performance drop dramatically. Query times were three to four times longer than previously with no apparent cause. It was as if someone flipped a switch, and everything starting running really slowly. This is on a windows machine running Microsoft SQL Server. When this kind of thing happens there can be […]

How Efficient is Your Application? One of the things I find energizing about software development today is the possibility of massive deployment. No longer are we restricted to a specific platform for everything we write. It is possible to write code, and with some forethought and a little tweaking have it able to run on phones, pads, pods, tables, PCs […]

How Many More Programming Languages Do We Need? When I was learning to program there were few languages from which to choose. The languages did not tend to follow the platform or base OS as much as the purpose of the language itself. Fortran was known for performance, math and engineering. COBOL was known for the documentation of the syntax […]

How Many More Programming Languages Do We Need? If you were to as Rockerfeller of Standard Oil how much money was enough legend has his reply as, “just a little more.” Somehow it feels like that is our answer with programming languages and frameworks. Rather than complete them, we find the holes, and simply start a whole new plan of […]