This morning a customer pinged me with what should be a simple issue: While restoring a backup to a test environment, the option to Close existing connections to destination database was greyed out. I was able to reproduce the problem and the solution is a bit odd so thought I’d throw this out there.
The Problem: […]
Over the years we have seen lots of changes to the tools we use to develop SSIS packages. With the past few versions, the SQL Server project types (Database Projects, Integration Services (SSIS), Analysis Services (SSAS), and Reporting Services (SSRS)) have been moved from their own installer to installation via Visual Studio Extensions.
This makes perfect […]
One of the things I end up having to do quite often is set up a Windows workstation for my daily use. In many cases, customers prefer that we use a jump box or even a physical machine on their network/domain to access their servers. With all the various tools and things we have at […]
The memory is still fresh from attending the 2019 PASS Summit just a few weeks ago, so here we share our three experiences with you. While we mostly came for the three days of knowledge, sharing and networking opportunities, we also came for the camaraderie and celebration of SQL Solutions Group. Our main office is […]
Much has been written about the performance implications of the dreaded RBAR, a term coined by Jeff Moden many years ago. I won’t rehash any of that here other than to say that in almost all cases, set operations are faster and more efficient than RBAR. So we spend a lot of time teaching (or […]
Strangest Things Pt 2: 505 executions per second
I’ve been a SQL Server DBA for more than 20 years and have spent the last 10 of those consulting. When you’ve been doing this for as long as I have, there’s not a lot of new issues that come up that you haven’t seen before. Which is […]
You think Demogorgons and Mind Flayers are hard to deal with? Compared to some strange things we’ve seen in SQL Server databases, they’re a walk in the park.
Most of the time, SQL Server is a wonderful, robust platform that can handle mountains of data, support all sorts of apps, and generally make life easier. Until […]
A few years ago I published an article about how to use linked servers to avoid performance issues. I wanted to follow up on that with a discussion of linked server security configuration because this is another big issue I see all too often with linked servers.
The first thing to understand is that all linked […]
Orlando in April, and then you add SQL on top of that? What’s not to like?
I’m really excited to be part of the Spring SQLIntersection event, coming up April 18-21 at the Walt Disney World Swan. SSG was an exhibitor at the Spring 2015 event, and at the Vegas event last fall, I had the […]
As you may have heard, Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison recently decided to not allow his sons to keep participation trophies they had received from, apparently, Next Level. For Harrison, and his kids, only earned trophies will be kept.
The idea of awarding every child, regardless of talent or contribution, a trophy or medal for merely […]
Gallery
Gallery
Gallery
Gallery
Gallery
Gallery
Gallery
Gallery
Gallery