Author: SteveStedman

This month marks the anniversary of Database Health Monitor, that I started building in 2011. To celebrate I am offering 25% off the licensing fee for the annual subscription for Database Health Monitor. As many of you know, maintaining healthy and high-performing databases is critical for any organization that relies on data to drive business decisions. And that’s precisely what …

Early release – July is Database Health Monitor Month Read more »

Handling Divide by Zero Errors in SQL Server One of the common errors encountered in SQL Server is the divide by zero error. This error occurs when a division operation has a denominator of zero, which is mathematically undefined. Understanding how to handle and prevent this error is crucial for maintaining robust SQL Server applications. What Causes a Divide by …

Handling Divide by Zero Errors in SQL Server Read more »

Understanding Table-Valued Parameters in SQL Server and Handling Parameter Sniffing Issues Table-Valued Parameters (TVPs) in SQL Server are a powerful feature that allows you to pass entire tables of data to stored procedures or functions. This can significantly simplify your code and improve performance when dealing with multiple rows of data. However, it’s important to be aware of potential parameter …

Understanding Table-Valued Parameters Read more »

DBCC PROCCACHE is a database console command (DBCC) in Microsoft SQL Server that can be used to display information about the procedure cache, which is a region of memory used by the database engine to store compiled versions of stored procedures, triggers, and other objects. Displaying information about the procedure cache can be useful for troubleshooting performance issues or for …

SQL Server DBCC Commands: DBCC PROCCACHE Read more »

Join us at Stedman’s SQL School, where we offer a comprehensive range of classes designed to enhance your SQL Server expertise. Whether you are a DBA, developer, or just starting out with SQL Server, our courses provide valuable insights and practical skills to tackle real-world challenges. Here’s a glimpse of what we offer: Class details are available here: https://Stedman.us/School Course …

Stedman SQL School: Elevate Your SQL Server Skills Read more »

Wait statistics, in the context of SQL Server, refer to the amount of time that a query spends waiting to access data in the database. When a client application requests data from the database, the request is placed in a queue and the client application must wait for its turn to access the data. The time that the query spends …

SQL Server Wait Type: PAGELATCH_UP Read more »

When it comes to managing SQL Server, monitoring and optimizing performance is a critical part of ensuring that your database environment is running smoothly. The Database Health Monitor for SQL Server is an invaluable tool for monitoring performance and identifying potential issues before they become significant problems. One of the most critical aspects of SQL Server Performance monitoring is understanding …

Managing SQL Server with Database Health Monitor Read more »

Exploring Sample SQL Databases in SQL Server SQL Server is a robust relational database management system that offers a variety of features for data management, analysis, and reporting. One of the great resources for learning and testing SQL Server capabilities is the set of sample databases provided by Microsoft. These databases are rich with sample data and scenarios, making them …

Exploring Sample SQL Databases in SQL Server Read more »

Each month we report on the most common waits that we see reported by our daily monitoring customers. All the data is sanitized, so there is no private client information to expose here. For this month, here are the details. PREEMPTIVE_OS_PIPEOPS MEMORY_ALLOCATION_EXT SP_SERVER_DIAGNOSTICS_SLEEP CXPACKET ASYNC_NETWORK_IO LCK_M_SCH_S LCK_M_S LCK_M_IX LCK_M_IS LCK_M_U Our daily monitoring product scans your SQL Server hourly and …

Common Waits Reported by Daily Monitoring This Month Read more »

Learn how a worktable table applies in the realm of SQL Server, efficient query processing and resource management are crucial for maintaining performance and reliability. One of the often-overlooked components that play a vital role in query execution is the worktable. In this blog post, we’ll delve into what worktables are, how they function, and why they are important for …

What is a Worktable in SQL Server Read more »