Monday morning: you’re back at work, but your SQL Server estate had a weekend from hell. Some companies find that out the hard way—every single Monday.It’s almost like SQL Server is taunting you, “How does it feel to treat me like you do?” I See a Ship in the Harbor (Do you watch for SQL … Read more
Maybe I’ve forgotten the name and the address of every patient I’ve helped throughout my years in EMS back when I was still involved, but there’s one thing I know: quite a few would say hindsight is 20/20. The older I get, the more I see how often this pattern repeats. Whether it was the … Read more
The Hidden Goldmine: SQL Server Due Diligence in Acquisitions Whenever I’m chatting with folks in the investment world, especially those eyeing product or “… as a service” companies that use Microsoft SQL Server, I’ve realized there’s a real need for clear, actionable insights on what to look for in a SQL Server environment. It’s not … Read more
The “Prod-Server Casino“ A production environment isn’t anything like a casino, at least not from the perspective of the guests. It needs to practically be guaranteed to succeed (So I guess, the house always winning is sort of similar.) You want everything to be sure in it. It isn’t grand. There aren’t fountains, there aren’t … Read more
With some of the CU and SP misses that happen, what’s a good schedule for patching a SQL Server? What are some things to do before applying a CU to a SQL Server? How can we verify our SP or CU didn’t break anything? And what CU should I apply? The latest? The even number … Read more
Update Note (October 2025): This post was originally written in December 2020 and remains technically sound. I’ve updated it with current context about the VMware landscape, refreshed the monitoring tool references, and expanded the snapshot guidance based on what we continue to see in the field. If you’re evaluating alternatives to VMware, check out our … Read more
Do you need SQL Server Enterprise Edition? Maybe. Maybe not. This blog post will help you figure out if you can make the move from SQL Server Enterprise Edition to SQL Server Standard. Lately, we’ve been finding more and more folks who can answer that probably not. I’ve lost track of the number of clients … Read more