SQL Server and Hyper-threading
I had a client ask whether or not SQL Server could take advantage of all 32 logical processors if they enabled hyper-threading on their server. They were running SQL Server 2012 Standard Edition on a...
View ArticlePartitioned Tables and Tiered Storage
A sliding window has long been a mainstay use case for table partitioning. A table partitioning sliding window pattern provides an efficient way to purge data according to retention needs and allows...
View ArticleTiered Storage Partition Copy
In my last tiered storage sliding window post, I shared a sliding window script that also moves an older partition to a different filegroup as part of a tiered storage strategy. This approach allows...
View ArticleORDER BY Is Required
I often see folks assume rows will be returned in order by the clustered index when ORDER BY is not specified in the query. This is despite the fact that the SQL Server Books Online ORDER BY topic...
View ArticleAdd or Remove IDENTITY Property From an Existing Column Efficiently
Introduction Refactoring is often needed to improve schema design or address changes in requirements. Occasionally, these schema modifications require removing the IDENTITY property from an existing...
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SQL Server TVP Performance Gotchas
Table-valued parameters have important considerations that developers and DBAs need to be aware of. It is essential that application code specify the proper data type and length for TVP columns in...
View ArticleSQL Server 2016 and Azure SQL Database V12 Breaking Change
This post is to get the word out about a breaking change to datetime conversion and comparison behavior in SQL Server 2016 and Azure SQL Database V12. This change hasn’t been documented as of this...
View ArticleSQL Server 2016 SP1 Standard Edition Enhancements
I seldom get excited about service packs but the changes released with SQL Server 2016 SP1 are the most significant I’ve seen in a SQL Server service pack in 20+ years. Microsoft announced this week at...
View ArticleSQL Server System Table Statistics Update
I’ve seen a few questions in the SQL Server forums recently reporting slow performance of DMV queries, such as those in queries executed by SQL Server Data Tools. This can result in query timeouts and...
View ArticlePerformance testing with DBCC DROPCLEANBUFFERS
DBCC DROPCLEANBUFFERS is a common practice when unit testing SQL Server performance on an isolated test instance. This allows one to evaluate different candidates for query, stored procedure, and index...
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