The Plan Cache Plan

Diagnose and resolve latch contention on SQL Server

This guide describes how to identify and resolve latch contention issues observed when running SQL Server applications on high concurrency systems with certain workloads.

More on Column Choice and Order for Multi-column Non-Clustered Indexes

In the last year I’ve published articles on indexes to include Indexes: When Column Selectivity Is Not Always A Requirement – SQLServerCentral and Query Optimizer Suggests Wrong Index and Query Plan -- Why? – SQLServerCentral. This article is a continuation of just how the optimizer interacts with the index wizard. We’ve all heard and read […]

Performance Tuning Means 3 Things

Brent Ozar discusses performance tuning and how From the outside it looks more complicated than it is, but at the end of the day, it always comes back to just 3 knobs and knowing which ones you can turn.

A Self-Tuning Fill Factor Technique for SQL Server – Part 2

Introduction Fill Factor is a parameter most of us have ignored because there is no definitive way to calculate what the correct value should be. Part 1 of this series describes a new technique to dynamically determine index fill factors for all indexes within a database. Part 2 covers an analysis of the data collection […]

Waits and Queues

This week Steve is wondering if you know how to use waits and queues for troubleshooting.

A Self-Tuning Fill Factor Technique for SQL Server – Part 1

Introduction So what’s all the fuss about Fill Factor? It is a SQL Server parameter I’ve ignored for 20+ years. The main reason was/is I’ve had no idea about what value to use. There is just no documented definitive guidance. Back in April at SQL Saturday #830 - Colorado Springs, I attended two sessions by […]

Are your CPU-intensive queries running slowly? Check your VM type.

When you build a VM for SQL Server in Amazon EC2, Azure VMs, or Google Compute Engine, it’s all too easy to overlook the CPU speeds that you’re getting.

A Brief History of Deadlock and Modern Approach of Resolution

Deadlocks have been constant troublemakers for database professionals for years. They seem to show up from nowhere and keep on happening again and again. Pinal Dave provides some oversight.

SQL Server Logical Reads – What do they really tell us?

SQL Server trace, the most common tool DBAs use to evaluate query performance, provides the ‘logical reads’ counter on which many DBAs rely for evaluating a query’s I/O performance. In this article, we will examine this counter’s true meaning and provide examples that prove it can sometimes be quite misleading