CLR (Common Language Runtime) is a feature of SQL Server that allows you to create and run managed code within the database engine. Enabling CLR on SQL Server allows you to create stored procedures, triggers, and functions using languages such as C# and VB.NET. The “CLR strict security” option is an important security feature of CLR that allows you to …

Securing SQL Server: Securing CLR Read more »

This chapter refers to shrinking your database files (mdf, or ndf files), not shrinking the log file. The log file is a completely different conversation, however, shrink database does shrink the log file. Not shrinking your database is one of the more counter intuitive things out there. You might think that a smaller database is a good thing, however there …

SQL Server DBCC Commands: Shrinking Notes Read more »

Over the years I have documented many of the concepts around corruption repair. Want to find out more, check out the corruption category at by blog. There are several common causes of database corruption in SQL Server, including: * Hardware failures: Hard drives, memory chips, or other hardware components can fail, causing data to be lost or damaged. * System …

SQL Server Corruption: What Causes Corruption 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: PREEMPTIVE_HADR_LEASE_MECHANISM Read more »

Keep Your SQL Server Running Smoothly During the Holidays with Stedman Solutions’ Managed Services Contact us to find out how Stedman Solutions can help with your SQL Server environment. The holiday season is here, and with it comes the well-deserved breaks and vacations for many in the IT industry. However, SQL Servers don’t take holidays. They continue to run, process …

Keep Your SQL Server Running Smoothly During the Holidays 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. PAGELATCH_UP CXCONSUMER CXPACKET SP_SERVER_DIAGNOSTICS_SLEEP SOS_SCHEDULER_YIELD LCK_M_IS LCK_M_IX PAGELATCH_SH ASYNC_NETWORK_IO PREEMPTIVE_OS_GETPROCADDRESS Our daily monitoring product scans your SQL Server hourly and …

Common Waits Reported by Daily Monitoring This Month Read more »

I’m Steve Stedman, a firm believer in the value and power of effective data management. Having interacted with SQL Server extensively, I’ve recognized that data aggregation is a vital tool for anyone seeking to extract the most valuable insights from their data. To share this knowledge and help others master this powerful technique, I’ve launched a new course on Teachable …

SQL School: Elevate Your SQL Skills with Data Aggregation Read more »

Monitoring long-running queries is an essential part of database performance monitoring, as it can help identify queries that are causing performance issues and take corrective action to optimize them. The Database Health Monitor for SQL Server provides insights into long-running queries, enabling you to identify performance bottlenecks and optimize query execution. One way the Database Health Monitor tracks long-running queries …

Database Health: Monitoring Long-running Queries Read more »

The SA (System Administrator) account is a predefined account in SQL Server that has full control over the database server. By default, the SA account is disabled and is not associated with a login. However, if the SA account is enabled and given a password, it can be used to connect to the database server and perform any task. There …

Securing SQL Server: Renaming and Disabling the SA Account Read more »