Grumpy Old DBA

Performance Dashboard for SQL 2008

GrumpyOldDBA — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 08:19:00 GMT

Just in case you haven't seen this http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/thepremiers/archive/2008/06/20/sql-server-2008-performance-studio.aspx then have a read. As I actually create dashboards and performance reporting for sql 2000 and sql 2008, and have...(read more)

Tracking problem indexes in SQL 2000

GrumpyOldDBA — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 19:30:00 GMT

It’s all so easy(ish) to work within SQL 2005 but the reality is that there are still more SQL 2000 databases than SQL 2005, so I’m told, and I’m supporting one of them right now. I’ve been contemplating on how to get a handle on which of my indexes are...(read more)

Dates - especially when SQL Server can't be British!

GrumpyOldDBA — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 17:54:00 GMT

Just like memory config dates never seem to go away and I've had some discussions with our BI team recently on why things were not working quite as expected, especially on the 13th of the month; and I noticed the same issue had arisen for a member...(read more)

Covering Clustered Indexes

GrumpyOldDBA — Mon, 26 May 2008 14:07:00 GMT

I’ve noticed that of late I’ve become a bit more critical of a well known publication that I suspect many DBA’s read. I have subscriptions to a number of publications and for the ones that I pay for I’m generally quite content. I like paper / hard copy...(read more)

Information Overload ??

GrumpyOldDBA — Thu, 01 May 2008 09:44:00 GMT

As I've remarked before the profusion of Blogs ( from the various Microsoft teams and individuals ) whilst exposing so much more information then we ever had before also requires you to almost spend all your time just checking every blog you can find...(read more)

Come to the UK SSUG

GrumpyOldDBA — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 11:53:00 GMT

Support your local user group! If you missed out on attending the UK SSUG Meeting in London last night then you missed an excellent evening, OK if you can't get to London Victoria beacuse you're in Scotland fair enough, but with the close proximity...(read more)

Disappointing Review.

GrumpyOldDBA — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 11:26:00 GMT

It's not very often I'm provoked into making a criticism of a respected publication, however there's nothing like being grumpy! I've published a number of posts about baselines, trending and performance analysis and I've been quick...(read more)

Disk Partition Alignment ( SANs and Diskpart )

GrumpyOldDBA — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 11:53:00 GMT

As a further post to my series on what else can affect SQL Server Performance here’s the thorny issue of disk partition alignment. Disclaimer : I don’t get to configure SANs, places I work have dedicated teams and it’s unlikely a DBA would be considered...(read more)

Configuring x64 SQL Server

GrumpyOldDBA — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 08:02:00 GMT

I often read a number of forum posts concerning performance / configuration issues with x64 SQL Server. I've also found some interesting views on how much memory you can allocate to SQL Server on a x64 install ( I don't have any experience of...(read more)

Do you really need those services?

GrumpyOldDBA — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 22:11:00 GMT

As a continuation of my series of posts which look at Windows Server rather than SQL Server here's one about services. o When your SQL Server is under pressure stopping or disabling unnecessary services may free up resource. o This is especially true...(read more)

Bug in UK SSUG 2008

GrumpyOldDBA — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 19:17:00 GMT

It was discovered earlier today that SSUG 2008 was unable to distinguish a Thursday when it fell before a bank holiday friday and as a consequence SSUG would be unable to function on March 20th. It's not thought that other Thursdays that fall before a...(read more)

Things that may not be right on your SQL server.

GrumpyOldDBA — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 19:57:00 GMT

Ø When performance is under the spotlight most often the finger is pointed at SQL Server, here’s a short list of things that may impact your server performance. Disclaimer : This is my personal hit list and in no particular order. Out of date drivers...(read more)

Only once every four years thank goodness!

GrumpyOldDBA — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 19:57:00 GMT

I never cease to be amazed by what I discover within IT, mostly these days I'm more disappointed than anything else, I'm not a lover of the let's bash Microsoft about security patches or we should all use Linux / Open source as in the latter I'm sure...(read more)

dbcc dropcleanbuffers - or maybe not

GrumpyOldDBA — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 20:34:00 GMT

As a consequence of another action I was prompted to want to clear the buffer cache – or to be more precise I tried to clear the buffer cache. So stepping back, what happens if you install more memory than the combined size of your databases? Most would...(read more)

Analysing Indexes Summary

GrumpyOldDBA — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 19:53:00 GMT

· I’ve put the work I’ve done on using the dmvs to analyse indexes onto my web site – the links to the pages are underneath. Trying to post large documents to the blog is very difficult, and probably not what a blog was intended for! · I need to do more...(read more)