Your index rebuild maintenance plan takes four hours every Sunday, fills the log and delays the backup. It may be buying you far less than everybody assumes.
AI Execution Plan Analysis: I Gave It My Plan and Asked What Was Wrong
I handed AI a plan with no warnings and healthy numbers, yet it read five million rows to return seventeen. That is the real test of AI execution plan analysis.
NOLOCK: Why It Counts Some Rows Twice and Misses Others
Everybody knows NOLOCK can show uncommitted data. Far fewer know why it counts some rows twice and misses others, with nothing rolled back. Let me show you.
I Let AI Recommend SQL Server Indexes Across a Week of Queries
I let AI recommend SQL Server indexes across a week of queries, measured every number before and after, and the result was not the one I expected to write about.
Full, Differential and Log Backups: A Practical Guide
Full, differential and log backups are easy to define and easy to get wrong at 2 AM. This animated guide shows which ones to restore, and in what order.
SQL Server Deadlock: Build One With Your Own Hands
A SQL Server deadlock occurs when sessions form a cycle of dependencies and none can continue. This example lets you create the cycle, inspect it, and remove it.
Database Performance Health Check: Six Months Slow, Fixed in 75 Minutes
Six months of slow SQL, fixed in 75 minutes. See what a database performance health check finds, and how one focused 4-hour session ends the guessing.