Come here for knowledge about SQL Server uniquely provided by the two Bobs at Microsoft
SQL Server Log Writer Workers
SQL Server 2017 leverages up to 4 log writer workers, on hidden schedulers, to assist in transaction...
Date: 02/11/2019
SQL Mysteries: SQL Server Login Timeouts – A Debugging Story
This blog takes you through the debugging journey, refreshing us on old concepts and introducing...
Date: 02/10/2019
SQL Server Worker Thread Default Calculation
SQL Server 2017 introduced a small change to SQL Server’s default worker thread calculation,...
Date: 02/10/2019
Viewing and Sorting XEvents Efficiently (Code Samples) - XEProfiler
I was doing backups and clean-ups and ran across a couple of sample projects for XEvent and...
Date: 12/31/2018
SQL Server Linux: Directory fsync Activities
When Creating, Renaming or Deleting (remove/unlinking) a file, Linux requires the direct parent...
Date: 12/18/2018
SQL Server Linux: fsync and Buffered I/O
I was asked to validate the SQL Server behavior in light of the error condition involving...
Date: 12/18/2018
SQL Server On Linux: Forced Unit Access (Fua) Internals
Overview SQL Server relies on Forced-Unit-Access (Fua) I/O subsystem capabilities to provide data...
Date: 12/18/2018
SQL Server Instant File Initialization: SetFileValidData (Windows) vs fallocate (Linux)
SQL Server Books Online documents Instant File Initialization and the associated security...
Date: 12/10/2018
SQL MYSTERIES: Tracing BCP Might Fool You
Today I was tracking a large BCP.exe ‘IN’ operation and monitoring the sys.dm_exec_requests entries....
Date: 08/07/2018
SQL Server Mysteries: The Case of the Dropped AD Group Login
Dylan (who kindly wrote up the contents of this blog for me) was modifying the tests for Active...
Date: 08/03/2018
SQL Server on Linux: How is Delete-On-Close Handled
Windows provides an option for CreateFile to delete a file when the file is closed...
Date: 07/31/2018
SQL Server on Linux: Why Do I Have Two SQL Server Processes
When starting SQL Server on Linux why are there two (2) sqlservr processes? systemctl status...
Date: 07/18/2018
SQL Server on Linux: Quick Performance Monitoring
I have been asked several times about how to get a Performance Monitor like view on Linux. There are...
Date: 05/20/2018
Take the SQL Server Mac challenge
When I graduated from college, one of the first computers I ever used was a MacIntosh. I loved the...
Date: 04/24/2018
SQL Server 2017 Improved Resource Usage On Smaller Machines
What does improving resource usage on smaller machines really mean?...
Date: 03/18/2018
SQL Server on Linux: CU4 - NewSequentialId() – Uuid
Prior to SQL Server 2017 CU4 for Linux (Linux only) the generation of a sequential UUID may not...
Date: 02/22/2018
Microsoft Engineering loves SQLBits
I have the blessed opportunity to speak at many customer events. SQLBits is always one of my...
Date: 02/15/2018
SQL Server on Linux: Kerberos Troubleshooting, Hints and Tips and Hard Code Debugging
SQL Server on Linux uses the GSSAPI and SSSD service for Active Directory (AD) authentication...
Date: 02/05/2018
How It Works: SQL Server DTC (MSDTC and XA Transactions)
I have found the term DTC is used in many ways so for the purposes of the discussion here are a few...
Date: 01/28/2018
Let's talk SQL Server to kick off the PASS Facebook Live series
I've had such a long, great history with the PASS Summit, Community, and all the great people that...
Date: 01/12/2018
SQL Server Management Studio Provides–“XE Profiler”
Bob Ward and I worked with our SQL Server Tool developers (thanks David) to enable ‘Quick XE Trace’...
Date: 12/26/2017
SQL Server Linux: Distributed transactions requiring the Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator service are not supported on SQL Server running on Linux. SQL Server to SQL Server distributed transactions are supported. – CLARIFIED!!!
SQL Server 2019 CTP2 SQL Server 2019 adds broad support for distributed transactions (both...
Date: 12/11/2017
Experience SQL Server 2017: Start your journey here
Updated Content! Please check out these new resources for SQL Server 2017 and SQL Server on Linux...
Date: 10/26/2017
Experience SQL Server 2017: The Fast and the Furious
Please check out a new blog post I created detailing how SQL Server 2017 is Fast, Built-In. Faster...
Date: 09/27/2017
SQL Server 2017 generally available on October 2nd...
Scott Guthrie and Rohan Kumar officially made the announcement today at Ignite that SQL Server 2017...
Date: 09/25/2017
SQL Server Mysteries: The Case of the Suspended, Awaiting Command, and Blocked Session
I ran into a scenario showing my session as suspended, awaiting command and blocked! My first...
Date: 06/09/2017
How It Works: SQL Server Deadlock Trace Flag 1222 Output
The trace flag 1222 can be very powerful and helpful in tracking down the cause of a deadlock when...
Date: 05/23/2017
SQL Server Mysteries: The Case of the Not 100% RESTORE…
I recently visited a customer onsite and presented to them topics on SQL Server 2016. After the...
Date: 04/25/2017
SQL Server Mysteries: The Case of the Not 100% RESTORE…
I recently visited a customer onsite and presented to them topics on SQL Server 2016. After the...
Date: 04/21/2017
SQL Server On Linux: Core-minidumps and Breakpad
As pointed out in my previous post, debugging on Linux brings a few new twists to those of us used...
Date: 03/27/2017
SQL Server on Linux: Scatter/Gather == Vectored I/O
Scatter/gather capabilities allow more efficient memory to disk transfers reducing redundant memory...
Date: 01/31/2017
SQL Server on Linux: An LLDB Debugging Tale
You are aware of our statements indicating “Microsoft Loves Linux.” Over the last couple of years...
Date: 01/29/2017
SQL Server Mysteries: The Case of TDE and Permanent Tempdb Encryption
I’m a huge Sherlock Holmes fan (I’ve read all the books, watch Elementary on CBS every week, and...
Date: 01/26/2017
SQL Server on Linux: Debugging ELF and PE Images (dbgbridge)
In my last post I highlighted the marriage of PE and ELF images within the same process space to...
Date: 01/24/2017
SQL Server on Linux: ELF and PE Images Just Work
Last March I moved from 22 years in SQL Server support to the SQL Server development team, working...
Date: 01/05/2017
How It Works (It Just Runs Faster): Auto Soft NUMA…
Back in June, Bob Dorr gave you the thinking behind why SQL Server 2016 It Just Runs Faster due to...
Date: 11/29/2016
How It Works (It Just Runs Faster): Non-Volatile Memory SQL Server Tail Of Log Caching on NVDIMM
Note: We received feedback that there was some confusion on us calling this functionality "tail of...
Date: 11/08/2016
The SQL Server Installer Version 2: Just Install It!
Back in July, I told you about a new installation experience for SQL Server. One of our goals from...
Date: 10/03/2016
SQL Server 2016 - It Just Runs Faster: Always On Availability Groups Turbocharged
When we released Always On Availability Groups in SQL Server 2012 as a new and powerful way to...
Date: 09/26/2016
How It Works: BULK INSERT (BCP) TDS Traffic
Yesterday I had a discussion with a customer and realized that the BCP, TDS pattern could use a bit...
Date: 09/16/2016
How It Works: How is SQL Server Error 833, 15 Sec I/O Detected
I was approached to revisit the details of how Error Message 833 is detected and reported. SQL...
Date: 09/01/2016
Create Table – Disk vs In-Memory Optimized
I had an interesting e-mail discussion related to the performance of create table. The test being...
Date: 08/23/2016
How It Works: Sync IOs in nonpreemptive mode longer than 1000 ms
Have you encountered the following in your SQL Server error log? Long Sync IO: Scheduler 95 had 1...
Date: 08/17/2016
COLD, WARM, HOT … CLEAN, DIRTY, FREE … What Does All This Mean?
I was asked about these terms from a blog reader. As I thought about these terms and how to blog...
Date: 08/08/2016
How It Works: Session/SPID (–2) for DTC Transactions
I have written on this subject before but it seems to come up from time to time, as it did again...
Date: 08/04/2016
How It Works: Reader / Writer Synchronization
This post is not about a specific SQL Server object but instead outlines a technique used in various...
Date: 07/23/2016
The SQL Server Basic Installer: Just Install It!
20+ years ago when I joined Microsoft I was handed a diskette (maybe it was two), and was told “Here...
Date: 07/13/2016
DBCC Trace Flags 2562 and 2549
Erin Stellato and Jonathan Kehayias from sqlskills reached out asking for clarification of trace...
Date: 07/12/2016
How it Works: XEL Health Session and Shutdown
There are a variety of posts talking about the black box recorder (XEL Health Session) explaining...
Date: 07/04/2016
What Am I Working On (RDORR): SQL Server On Linux
To some of you SQL Server On Linux is old news from various announcements made a couple of months...
Date: 06/27/2016