The Windows Server Failover Clustering for the Smart SQL Server DBA course was created in an attempt to help SQL Server DBAs and server administrators responsible for SQL Server Failover Clustered Instances (FCI) become more confident in what they do. This idea dawned on me as I was talking to customers who are unnecessarily spending money on hardware that […]
PostAvoid These High Availability Mistakes That Can Cost a SQL Server DBAs Job
I’ll never forget a conversation I had with a customer several years ago. I was asked to join a conference call to discuss a new SharePoint 2013 farm deployment. My involvement was limited to designing and deploying a SQL Server 2012 Availability Group for all of their environments – a different vendor was engaged to […]
PostHow Well Do You Know Your Microsoft High Availability Technologies?
Are you up to the challenge? Do you have what it takes to design a highly available SQL Server system? If you need help with your SQL Server Always On deployments, reach out and schedule a call with me using my online calendar. Schedule a Call Subscribe to my mailing list. * […]
PostThe Traffic Light In Your Datacenter
You know how it feels like to stare at this for a very long time (I ended up having to wear eyeglasses because of it.) Better yet, try it. Just for 5 minutes straight without blinking. But staring at a computer monitor for a long time isn’t the real issue. It’s the confusion of trying to […]
PostAn Underrated Feature: Cluster Shared Volumes (CSVs) with SQL Server Failover Clustered Instances
[callout]*My online course, Windows Server Failover Clustering (WSFC) for the Smart SQL Server DBA, is all about helping you become confident in deploying SQL Server workloads that run on top of a WSFC. This series of blog posts explores some of the lessons covered in the course. If you want to learn more about the […]
PostHow My Visits to the Hospital Helped Me Become a Better SQL Server DBA
My personal calendar for the past few weeks have been filled with visits to hospitals, clinics and other medical professionals after what happened to my wife last March. Growing up, I hated visits to hospitals. It’s probably because of all the medications I have had to take to treat primary complex. Show me a syringe used for […]
PostHow Attention To Detail Can Make Your Systems Highly Available
As my son was struggling to figure out how to download the Amazon Kindle app on his iPad, I can’t help but notice the email he got from Amazon. The email contains the URL link where to download the Kindle app. And the message said something like this: [callout]Download the free Kindle reading app on your […]
Post3 Ways To Master A New SQL Server Feature
With the announcements for making SQL Server 2022 available for public preview, it’s challenging to catch up with all the learning. This is one of the reasons why we still see software applications that do not support features of the latest SQL Server versions even though they are already running on top of it. Developers […]
Post3 Types of Microsoft High Availability Technologies
Every now and then I get questions about how to implement load balancing with SQL Server databases. Because organizations want to maximize their IT investments, a standby server is almost always a red flag – it’s an idle asset. Hence, the questions about load balancing workloads on SQL Server databases to maximize the resource utilization on […]
PostImplementing Instant File Initialization on SQL Server with SMB File Share
We were taught early on that when you heat water to 212 F (100 C,) it starts to boil. Oh, those memorable science experiments we did in high school. We put a thermometer in a water-filled flask and light up a burner to heat the water in the flask. We watch as the thermometer records the temperature […]
