Alerting on SQL Server Blocking

December 18, 2017 Andy 20

Identifying blocking is one of the most basic things that a DBA should be monitoring for. I previously wrote about how to identify blocking in SQL Server and find the leading blocker. Recently, my friend Jim Donahoe (blog | twitter) asked me about setting up … [Read More]

Multi-Statement TVFs in Dynamics CRM

August 22, 2017 Andy 0

If you’re familiar with supporting the database behind Microsoft Dynamics CRM, you probably know that it’s not the fastest-performing database. Honestly, that shouldn’t be a surprise–it’s not designed to be a screaming-fast database. It’s designed to be a flexible database. Most Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems … [Read More]

Blogging at SQLPerformance.com

March 30, 2017 Andy 0

As part of my role on the SentryOne Product Advisory Council (PAC), I’m going to occasionally be contributing posts over at SQLPerformance.com. Today, my first post was published: What the heck is a DTU? SQLPerformance.com focuses on providing innovative and practical solutions for improving SQL … [Read More]

Plan Explorer 3.0: More power and completely free

September 8, 2016 Andy 1

Today, SQL Sentry announced the release of Plan Explorer 3.0. There are a few big changes, so let’s dive right in.   Plan Explorer just got free-er Up until now, Plan Explorer was essentially a freemium product. There was the free edition (which was really awesome), … [Read More]

How to shrink a database in 4 easy steps

April 28, 2016 Andy 9

It’s a really common question: “How do I shrink my database?” Luckily, there’s also a really common answer: “Don’t.” …but what if you really have to? Perhaps you just implemented data compression, and have 60% free space in your database. Perhaps you just deleted a … [Read More]

How fast queries hurt performance

April 15, 2016 Andy 6

This week at work, I noticed CPU on one server seemed pretty high. I wasn’t familiar with this particular server, but based on the applications it supported, I was expecting the server to be under-utilized. I went over to vCenter to look at historical CPU … [Read More]