Vendor installers leave behind SQL logins with CHECK_POLICY off, which means no complexity, no expiry and no lockout. Here is why they survive every review,… Read More »The SQL Login Nobody Remembers: Finding Accounts With the Password Policy Turned Off
Is your master database size normal? Read the object count first, then the used and free split in each file, and only then the file… Read More »Master Database Size: Read This Row Before the Megabytes
Green in the dashboard does not mean safe to fail over. See how availability group lag turns into data loss and redo time, and where… Read More »Availability Group Lag: What a Failover Would Cost You
Open an SSRS shared dataset report and the biggest number is the wrong place to look. Here is the order that finds broken reports and… Read More »SSRS Shared Dataset Report: What to Read First
Task Manager says SQL Server ate all the RAM. Here is how to read SQL Server memory usage as three nested layers and find the… Read More »SQL Server Memory Usage: Where Did All the RAM Go?
Is a SQL Server query slow when busy because of its plan or because of its neighbors? Compare quiet and busy Query Store intervals to… Read More »SQL Server Query Slow When Busy? Find Out Which Kind
A deadlock heat map shows which hour and day your SQL Server deadlocks cluster, so you can find the colliding job instead of guessing from… Read More »Deadlock Heat Map: Find the Hour Your Deadlocks Hit
Query Store stopped collecting, and nothing told you. Here is how to prove whether the history behind your tuning reports is really there, and fix… Read More »Query Store Stopped Collecting? How to Tell Fast
SQL Server backup status is more than a last backup date. See how exposure, log chains and the restore sequence show what you would really… Read More »SQL Server Backup Status: Beyond the Last Backup Date
Query Store plan instability hides behind plans that cost the same. Here is how to measure how long a plan lasts and which queries keep… Read More »Query Store Plan Instability: Why It Was Fast Yesterday
