How do -you- (I) use SQL Server?

I was recently tagged in an interesting blog post by A Misplaced New Englander, David Taylor. (dyfhid on twitter). The question sounds simple enough, “How do you use SQL Server where you work?” Of course the answer is not simple. I echo Grant Fritchey’s response in his blog post that it would be easier to … Read more

How do -you- install SQL Server? (Part 3)

Welcome to part 3 in this series on a thought process around SQL Server Installation. In Part 1, we started talking about some basic steps and a thought process for a repeatable success story with your SQL Server installations. Part 2 discussed security, playing around before doing a first install and smoke testing afterwards. Today … Read more

How do -you- install SQL Server? (Part 2)

Welcome to this series on a thought process around SQL Server Installation. In Part 1, we started talking about some basic steps and a thought process for a repeatable success story with your SQL Server installations. Today let’s continue that story and talk some more about installation planning and success. We’ll finish up talking about … Read more

How do -you- install SQL Server (Part 1)

No, this is not an installation guide There is documentation for that found in many places. First good place to look is Books Online (2005/2008) but there are plenty of other community resources found at sites like SQL Server Central and SQLServerPedia as well as blogs. What I mean by this post is to ask, … Read more

How to use sp_configure in SQL Server

sp_configure is the "type set" of SQL Server

2018 Update – Straight Up SQL Server Tips posts Not much has changed with sp_configure in SQL Server. The below post is still quite current as far as how to use sp_configure or sys.configurations to check and change your SQL Server settings. If you head to our , you’ll see many posts about things such as … Read more

SQL Server Implicit Conversion: You Could Be Suffering Right Now!

SQL Server Implicit Conversion – A Silent Perf Killer I recently had the opportunity to work with a developer at the day job. He was using a loop (for what he was doing, it makes sense 🙂 ), and he had a query that ran great when he stripped the question out of the process, … Read more