I often see forum posts from accidental administrators who want to know how to recover data without a backup. The short answer is, “Now is a good time to work…
Thomas LaRock
Thomas LaRock
The Latest Posts Featuring Thomas LaRock
Six Ways to Protect your Database Backups
Be Responsive and Responsible
Over the years, I’ve read more than a few articles about the qualities that are found in the best administrators. These articles focus on soft skills, but sometimes will list…
The Future Isn’t in Databases, But in the Data
In the past year I have earned a couple of certificates from the Microsoft Professional Program. One certificate was in Data Science, the other in Big Data. I’m currently working…
Collecting and Alerting on Deadlocks for SQL Server
SolarWinds DPA can collect a count of the number of deadlocks to be displayed as a resource graph. For Ignite versions prior to 8.2, you can update two files in…
Why DPA Uses SQL Server Trace Flag 2861 and Zero Cost Plans
About zero cost plans in SQL Server OK, first thing first, what is a “zero cost plan” in SQL Server? I did some digging around and found the following links,…
Using VSAN to Maximize Database Performance
Earlier this year I had the opportunity to speak at VMWorld in San Francisco. The session title was “Using Virtual SAN to Maximize Database Performance”, and in that session I spent time focusing on performance as well as recovery. Why would recovery be a part of the talk? Because:
Learning to Pivot
The role of information technology inside of corporations is not new; it has existed for decades. With each passing year we see acceleration in the speed and complexity of changes to our roles as IT professionals.
VMDK versus RDM: Which One Do I Need for SQL Server?
When it comes to disk configuration options for virtualized servers running on VMware, you have two options: VMFS virtual file-based disk (VMDK) or a raw device mapping (RDM). Which one…
Hardware or Code? SQL Server Performance Examined
CPUs are running faster now than ever before, solid-state drives are replacing spinning disks, and database servers have terabytes of RAM. Because these resources are plentiful and increasingly affordable, it can seem tempting to solve database performance issues with hardware. But consider this example: if CPU utilization shoots up to 90% on one of your servers and stays at that level for a day or two, is the problem lack of CPU power or something else?
How to Recover the Master Database in SQL Server 2012
In my seven years as a production DBA, I can count on one hand the number of times I have need to restore the master database as a result of…