SQL Server Always On Availability Groups are designed to provide a high-availability and disaster recovery solution that keeps your databases running smoothly even in the face of hardware failures and data corruption. One of the key features supporting this capability is Automatic Page Repair. This feature works behind the scenes to automatically fix corrupted pages in a database, thereby minimizing downtime and preserving data integrity. In this post, we will explore the mechanisms, benefits, and limitations of Automatic Page Repair, highlighting its role in enhancing SQL Server reliability.
Category: Maintenance
Strategies for Optimizing Version Ghost Record Cleanup in SQL Server
This blog explores the challenges and strategies for managing version ghost records in SQL Server. It discusses issues like single-threaded cleanup tasks, long-running transactions, and locking levels that impact the cleanup process. The post provides actionable strategies such as updating SQL Server, utilizing trace flags, and regular index maintenance to improve ghost record cleanup efficiency.
Five Mistakes Made by Junior SQL Server Database Administrators
Starting as a new SQL Server Database Administrator (DBA) can be an overwhelming experience. There is a vast amount of knowledge to absorb, ranging from understanding the intricacies of SQL Server to mastering best practices in database management. Amidst this learning curve, it’s easy to overlook important aspects that can have significant impacts on database performance and integrity. In this post, we will explore five common mistakes made by junior DBAs, why they are problematic, and how to handle each issue properly.
SQL Auditing and Always On: Working Together
Maintaining continuous and consistent auditing is crucial for security, compliance, and troubleshooting. When working with SQL Server Always On Availability Groups, a failover event can pose significant challenges to your audit configurations and logs. This guide will help you navigate these challenges by outlining the key considerations and steps necessary to ensure that SQL Server auditing remains seamless during a failover.
Understanding the Importance of Bucket Counts in Hash Indexes for Memory-Optimized Tables
In the realm of memory-optimized tables, every table must have at least one index to connect its rows. Notably, every index on such tables is also memory-optimized. Among the various types of indexes available, hash indexes stand out for their unique structure and functionality. Understanding the importance of bucket counts in hash indexes for memory-optimized tables is crucial for maintaining optimal performance in SQL Server. This post looks at the structure of hash indexes, how to specify and adjust bucket counts, and the consequences of incorrect bucket counts. Learn best practices for planning and optimizing your hash indexes to ensure efficient data management and avoid common performance pitfalls.
Best Practices for SQL Server Backup and Restore Strategies
Learn the best practices for SQL Server backup and restore strategies, including full, differential, and transaction log backups, backup verification, and encryption. This guide covers the use of native SQL Server features versus third-party tools, implementing offsite and cloud backups, and establishing effective backup retention policies. Ensure successful restore processes and maintain high data availability with detailed, straightforward advice tailored for enterprise environments.
Automated Database Health Checks: Leveraging SMO in PowerShell
Safeguard your databases with automated PowerShell scripts! This guide walks you through creating scripts to check critical database health metrics like size and free space. Learn how to connect to SQL Server and format results for clarity. The post also explores optional features for enhanced functionality.
Optimizing Large Tables in SQL Server Using Table Partitioning
SQL Server table partitioning is an invaluable feature for improving database performance and management, especially for large-scale databases. This blog post provides an overview of setting up and managing partitioned tables in SQL Server, using TSQL commands. Partitioning helps manage large tables by dividing them into smaller, more manageable segments known as partitions. Each partition can be stored on a separate filegroup, enhancing query performance and simplifying maintenance tasks such as backups and index rebuilds.
Ensuring Optimal Execution Plans in SQL Server
Explore professional strategies for managing SQL Server Plan Regression. This guide offers insight into preventing performance degradation through efficient execution plan selection and maintenance, ensuring optimal query performance in SQL Server environments.
Preventing Page Splits with Optimal Fill Factor Settings
The SQL Server Fill Factor is a setting that can be applied to indexes, which determines the amount of space to leave empty within the index pages. This setting is crucial for managing how densely SQL Server stores the index data on each page. It’s primarily used to improve performance and reduce page splits during insert or update operations that modify the index. The Fill Factor is specified as a percentage value.