Memory Consumption by Object
SQL Server caches object data in memory in the buffer pool. Understanding memory consumption by object can be crucial for performance. For instance, you may have a large logging table consuming 90% of the buffer…
Slow inserts across a linked server?
Linked Servers offer a great way to connect two SQL Servers together, allowing remote querying and DML operations. Frequently, this is used to copy data from production to reporting. However, the temptation is to run…
Missing Stats DMV?
Useful statistics are critical for great performance in SQL Server. So much so, that by default, SQL Server creates statistics for columns it deems worthy without any help or interjection from anyone.1 However, SQL Server…
Query I/O over the Last Five Minutes
When faced with a SQL Server that is performing poorly, a great starting place for troubleshooting is looking at wait stats. Once you’re gathering wait stats, if you see lots of IO-related waits, you may…
Capturing Index Usage Stats
Overview Index usage stats are invaluable for evaluating performance of existing indexes. Every time an index is used by the query-engine, an internal table is updated reflecting that usage. So, every time a scan, seek,…
Backup Performance Testing
Reliable database backups are perhaps the single most important aspect of a Database Administrator’s job. The business risk from data-loss that can occur without a reliable database backup are substantial enough to bring many smaller…