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]