There are few things more important in your IT infrastructure than database performance. DB performance metrics can be easily tracked, and there’s no excuse for not doing so. There are several common database problems you’re likely to encounter when managing a large IT network, and solving these quickly can make a big difference in terms…

A Database Administrator (DBA) is like a racecar technician. Building and optimizing a high-performance vehicle requires minuscule fine-tuning and attention to detail. A tweak here and an adjustment there could shave just a fraction of a second from your lap time. Of course, that fraction of a second could determine whether you win or lose…

Managing any database ecosystem is difficult enough: taking backups, maintaining statistics, and doing performance tuning all tax the time of the DBA or database developer. The job is complex even without considering the work you do to manage the various schema and data drifts that can occur. Unless you operate in a vacuum or within…

SQL Server performance testing is an invaluable practice and can yield notable benefits. SQL Server performance tests can be used for a range of purposes, included but not limited to performance tuning, capacity planning, and identifying bottlenecks. This article will outline the importance of SQL performance testing, what you need to get started with stress…

Databases are the collective sources of an enterprise’s information stored on a dedicated server or in the cloud. A database management system (DBMS) is software that stores, retrieves, and updates this data, manipulating the database, so it can be used effectively by many people at the same time. These are referred to as relational database…

Websites and applications all need to interact with their users, which means users must have some way to input data, whether it’s a text box on a website or a web form within an application. When this kind of input data is directly turned into a SQL query, the program or website allowing the input…

SQL database maintenance can be both time-consuming and prone to manual error. But to run properly, SQL Server databases do require regular maintenance—you shouldn’t underestimate just how important it can be for your systems. Without it, you can end up with significant performance issues for your applications and negative impacts for end users. If you…

SQL stands for Structured Query Language, and it’s generally considered the standard language for relational database management systems. SQL is basically the database communicator, while SQL statements encompass what’s being communicated. Statements are used to execute tasks, like updating or retrieving data. Thankfully, the SQL language is simple and user-friendly, on account of the syntax…

SQL statements are the primary means through which businesses and organizations retrieve information from the database. However, these statements aren’t always as efficiently composed as they could be, which can lead to slowdowns from the server. That’s why you hear so much about SQL query optimization—it’s a necessary process if you hope to ensure high…

Adopting effective Microsoft SQL Server monitoring tools is an essential part of maintaining the long-term health of not only your database, but also your larger network. Monitoring server performance and activity can have a direct impact on minimizing downtime and cost-efficiency — not least because addressing a server failure can involve a hefty price tag….

Without SQL monitoring tools, database administrators have to create their own solutions for monitoring SQL database performance. This exhausting and frustrating process distracts from more important work, and these manual SQL monitoring solutions could lead to errors. Luckily, SQL monitoring software offers a faster and more effective solution. A database performance monitor for various databases,…

In this post I am going to discuss a couple of key points for a DBA to consider when thinking about storage needs for their SQL Servers. I’ll also show you some SolarWinds SQL Sentry features that will keep you on top of this information to help you make informed decisions—and even see into the future! What’s…

SQL Server is a relational database management system (RDBMS) developed by Microsoft for Windows and—in recent years—for Linux. Like other RDBMS software, SQL Server uses SQL as its query language. Specifically, it uses an SQL implementation called Transact-SQL, or T-SQL. SQL is a standard programming language for interacting with relational databases. T-SQL is slightly different…

Query tuning is often the fastest way to accelerate SQL Server performance. Most often system-level server performance (memory, processors, and so on) improvement measures are ineffective and expensive. Expert developers believe most performance issues can be traced to poorly written queries & inefficient indexing, not hardware constraints. In fact, some performance issues can only be…

Issues and delays caused by database performance networks are a time and money drain IT teams can’t afford. With so many performance risk factors at play (memory usage, indexing, etc.), it can be hard to determine where, when, and why a problem is occurring. Implementing SQL tools focused on performance, monitoring, and management is a…

Whether you’re running an instance of open-source MySQL or Microsoft SQL Server, you need to be certain you have robust, high-quality security measures in place. This is extremely important for preventing malicious access to your database, particularly if sensitive or personal data is stored on your servers. In this article, I cover the essential SQL…

Storage is one of the most critical components for any relational database management system, and getting the right storage configuration affects reliability, availability, and performance. When it comes to SQL Server storage best practices, choosing between storage hardware options has changed significantly over the last decade, but that doesn’t necessarily make choosing the correct storage…

SQL Server is a relational database management system developed by Microsoft, and it’s used for managing, storing, and changing data organized relationally. In some cases, you might want to use SQL Server on a virtual machine, but given the resource-intensive nature of the system, you need to ensure you set it up and manage it…

One of the most fundamental concepts in any relational database management system (RDBMS), such as SQL Server, is the transaction. During my consulting career, I’ve seen many performance problems caused by developers not understanding how transactions work in SQL Server. In this tutorial, I’ll explain what transactions are, why they’re necessary, and how they work…