Stop trying to shrink tempdb files

April 28, 2020 Andy 1

Stop shrinking your tempdb data files I recently wrote about growing, shrinking, and removing tempdb files. In that article I explained that SQL Server won’t move a page that contains an internal worktable object, and thus trying to shrink tempdb files can be futile. Today, … [Read More]

Thirsty Thursday – Essential bar equipment

April 16, 2020 Andy 1

I’m writing this post during the Coronavirus pandemic. Billions of people across the globe are isolating in their homes. Folks have started exploring new hobbies and interests as a way to pass the time and to keep their mind sharp. Folks are depending heavily on … [Read More]

Redgate Streamed

April 9, 2020 Andy 0

Last week, I had the pleasure of participating in Redgate Streamed, a three-day virtual conference organized by my friends at Redgate. My session was Shortcuts from an impatient DBA–discussing a bunch of Management Studio tips & tricks for data professionals. The virtual conference was free … [Read More]

When STRING_SPLIT() falls short

March 20, 2020 Andy 0

This morning, my friend Aaron Bertrand (blog|twitter) posted a plea for help with STRING_SPLIT() improvements. I’m very much in Aaron’s corner on this, having written about the olden days myself. Why STRING_SPLIT() is supposed to be awesome CLR was fast, but inaccessible to many DBAs. … [Read More]

Blocking with OBJECT_NAME()

December 24, 2019 Andy 0

As a DBA, you probably use the OBJECT_NAME() function quite a bit. I know I do. If you aren’t familiar with it, you can read the documentation if you want, but it’s a pretty straightforward function that converts object IDs into object names. I ran … [Read More]

What the heck is the dbcreator role?

December 19, 2019 Andy 0

Microsoft docs defines the dbcreator role as: Members of the dbcreator fixed server role can create, alter, drop, and restore any database. But what specific permissions are actually included in that role? If we scroll down in the docs just a little, we’ll see a … [Read More]