Performance

A Picture That Says, “Don’t Shrink!” (and other things…)

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So I wrote a lot of posts around shrinking (Here, here, here). Some of my posts were turned into a wiki article on SQLServerPedia. I thought I was done posting about this but one more. I talked about why we shouldn’t do it on a regular basis. Why it should really be reserved for use … Read more

Manage Your Transactions (So They Don’t Manage You – Part 2)

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This is the final in a series on shrinking and transactions. You can see them all in the Shrinking & Transactions category. In part 1, we talked about factors that affect transaction log growth. We talked about what a SQL Server transaction is and the various modes SQL interacts with a transaction (Autocommit, Implicit Transactions and … Read more

Manage Your Transactions (So they don’t manage you – Part 1)

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This is part 3 in a series on shrinking and transaction management. Click here for part 4. You can see them all in the Shrinking & Transactions category. If you are one of the people who have been reading this blog, you know where I stand on shrinking databases/log files. I don’t like the practice (Post 1, … Read more

Just add a join hint!

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When I posted about Empirical Evidence and finding a Troubleshooting Methodology, I talked about implementing a solution just because it seemed to work. This can manifest itself in different ways. Some are alright and harmless (what your shotgun hit happened to be the right fix) and some can be dangerous and hide the real problem. … Read more

Don’t Touch that SQL ServerShrink Database Button!

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Updated [2016] This post continues to be a popular destination for searches like “How do I shrink a database?”  I made some copy edits. I also wanted to reiterate a default position: It isn’t usually a good idea to shrink your SQL Server database. There are exceptions, but they are exceptions. This post is part 1 in a series … Read more

Good use for WITH RECOMPILE

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Haven’t looked into all of the details underneath but at the surface probably a good reminder of where WITH RECOMPILE can be helpful… Using SQL Server Reporting Services, a workaround was used (this is the part I want to look into more) to basically get a blank report showing when a user first links to … Read more