AG Failure After Patching Secondary Node
March 13, 2026
Quick Summary After patching the secondary node of a two-node SQL Server Availability Group, the secondary databases stopped showing as part of the AG entirely, without errors, even though normally an issue would be indicated by the databases reporting an unhealthy state. Was there a patching error? A configuration problem? Something worse? We pulled up
SQL Server Case of the Week: Repetitive Login Failures from Local Computer Account
February 20, 2026
Summary – Repeated Login Failures in SQL Server At Straight Path, we regularly inherit SQL Server environments after someone else completes the initial install. Most of the time the server configuration just needs a tweak or two and everything is good to go. Other times, we encounter odd behavior that sends us down a research
SQL Server Case of the Week: When Availability Group Replica Communication Issues Cause Log Drives to Fill
February 13, 2026
Summary – Log File Filling up on the Availability Group Networking firewall changes made over the weekend resulted in the client’s three disaster recovery (DR) replicas to not be able to communicate with the three High Availability (HA) replicas in their SQL Server Always on Availability Group (AG). This resulted in log files growing out
SQL Server Case of the Week: Login Complexity When Using Contained Availability Groups in SQL Server 2022
January 30, 2026
Summary of the Login Issue After building a contained availability group in SQL Server, a customer was experiencing intermittent issues connecting to their primary database. Our investigation revealed that the SQL Authentication login being used had been created both within the context of the contained AG as well as directly on the primary node but had different SIDs in
How to Restore a SQL Server Database Using dbatools Restore-DbaDatabase
June 17, 2025
In this blog post, we will audit the dbatools command Restore-DbaDatabase. I will test, review, and evaluate the script based on a series of identical steps. Our goal is to provide insights, warnings, and recommendations to help you use this script effectively and safely. Restore-DbaDatabase is powerful tool to automate the restore of any database,
Audit Your Database Backup Chain!
October 30, 2023
All database administrators know that safeguarding data is paramount and having a strong restore strategy is crucial. In this post, I would like to add another tool to your arsenal that I have found helpful in auditing server health and configurations as it pertains to backups and the backup chain. A backup chain is important
Essential SQL Server Database Maintenance Tasks Every DBA Should Know
August 23, 2023
Database maintenance is a critical aspect of the DBA role, ensuring the smooth operation of SQL Server environments. Some folks will implement a SQL Server maintenance plan without fully digesting what they are doing, but we prefer you to do this with eyes wide open. In this post, we will explore key tasks and areas
SQL Server HA/DR Webinar
November 29, 2022
On Tuesday, 12/13/22, we presented a webinar about HA/DR (high availability and disaster recovery). Join Team Straight Path as we discuss what HA is, what DR is, and how they are different. We talked about the ways to achieve HA and DR. We’ll talk about the things we’ve learned about HA and DR along the
Tara’s favorite SQL Server 2012+ Feature
February 16, 2019
If you’re still on SQL Server 2008/2008 R2, you’re missing out on some great features. It’s no secret that Availability Groups are my favorite feature since SQL Server 2012. Back in the day, I was supporting complex environments with aggressive SLAs. On one particular system, I had Failover Clustering for HA, Asynchronous Database Mirroring for