The topic of this months T-SQL Tuesday #94 (hosted by Rob Sewell b/t) is all about PowerShell.
The question: What are you going to automate today?
I’m Speaking – SQL Saturday Spartanburg!
On Saturday September 23 I’ll be speaking at SQL Saturday Spartanburg. I’m excited to be presenting a lively session about Environmental SQL Server Troubleshooting. If you want a preview you can check out some of my previous posts:
How to Learn SQL Server For Free Starter Pack
Do you want to learn SQL Server but don’t have any money? Are you thinking about working more seriously with SQL Server? Do you wonder what you need to do to get ahead or become a SQL Server DBA or developer?
I can help. You need a SQL Server Starter Pack. Read on for how to learn it on your own, on your own time, and all for free!
T-SQL Tuesday #93 – Interview get-help
The topic of this months T-SQL Tuesday #93 (hosted by Kendra Little / @Kendra_Little) is Interviewing Patterns & Anti-Patterns. The question: What advice to you have for people preparing for or going through an interview?
It is a big question with many different perspectives and factors:
- Entry level vs experienced professional
- Startup vs enterprise
- DBA vs developer
Instead of delving into each specific domain I will discuss some insights that have served me well. I hope they will help you too. Whether you are interviewing for a Senior DBA role or an entry level BI developer some things remain the same.
MSDTC Troubleshooting – Basic Guide Part 2
Now that the basics of MSDTC have been covered in Part 1 we can move on to troubleshooting more specific issues. Here I cover other tricks that can ruin your day. There was a period of time where it felt like all I did was diagnose and fix MSDTC issues. This is the outcome of that frustration – a guide that you may find helpful and prevent the stress I experienced. So without further ado…
MSDTC Troubleshooting – Basic Guide
If you haven’t worked with MSDTC before you might mistake it for a simple straight forward service which is easy to setup, configure, and troubleshoot. I too once thought that until I stumbled into the thick forest of MSDTC with those promises and didn’t return for years all grizzly and worn (ok it wasn’t that bad).
What comes next is my contribution to those who follow into the dark denizens of MSDTC hoping to fix things so they can go home.
Microsoft SQL Server Environmental Checks
When called in to diagnose a performance issue, what are the 1st things you review? How much of the environment do you check before going straight to the line of code you think is at fault? Because of the urgency many DBAs and developers make the mistake of diving straight into the code looking for an answer. What if the solution is not in the code but rather in the overall environment? Environmental troubleshooting is often a quick and overlooked method for discovering and configuring SQL Server. Perform at a higher level without the need for application change controls!
NOTE: this article is the summary of a 3 part series on optimizing SQL Server configurations along with Windows Server and VMware. Please read these first then return to read the rest.
SQL Server Environmental Diagnostics Guide – VMware
Nowadays everyone virtualizes. SQL Server is no exception. VMware is the most common hypervisor by far (sorry Hyper-V) so it is very beneficial for DBAs to know their way around vSphere, understand how to optimally configure SQL Server and VMware to work together, and know the red flags to watch for performance.
This is part 2 of a 3 part series about SQL Server Environmental Diagnostics. Check out Part 1 and Part 2 as well.
SQL Server Environmental Diagnostics Guide – OS
Diagnostics and the optimization of configurations are important for any SQL Server instance. However, it is not only the database server which need attention. The operating system, Windows Server, needs consideration as well. There are various general configurations to consider optimizing on any Windows Server hosting a SQL Server instance.
NOTE: this deals only with Windows Server. I know that Linux is now recently an option but this article will deal only with Windows Server.
This is part 2 of a 3 part series about SQL Server Environmental Diagnostics. Part 1 can be read here.
SQL Server Environmental Diagnostics Guide
Supporting an application as a DBA means you have encountered complaints about performance. The investigation starts and the root cause must be determined. Often times the end result is not a bug in the code but rather something specific to the environment. Environmental problems are usually the culprit.
Performance problems for a SQL Server based application are likely to be caused by environmental factors and not buggy code.
Whether it is a configuration you can change in SQL Server, Windows Server, VMware, or the network it is likely the first course of action is to perform a quick assessment of the environment. This is where understanding the various configurations and best practices are key. Knowing what to look for can save tons of time.
A mistake I often see is a performance issue is passed off to someone else (more senior) and that engineer assumes a lot of things without checking. People are going to relay the problem as they see it – not as it actually is. This leads to skipping over some elementary checks which can save time and frustration from tracking down imaginary bugs.
Start troubleshooting with a quick environmental check.
Below are common environmental mishaps I see when troubleshooting SQL Server performance complaints. Consider these 1st line of action before getting into execution plans, statistics, indexing, and code refactoring.