Introducing sp_CheckTempdb: Check Your SQL Server tempdb for Performance Issues
May 8, 2025
Most database folks might know the tempdb database in SQL Server is used for temporary tables, but many folks don’t realize all the other things that use this critical system database. It’s also used by table variables, cursors, aggregations, joins, and sorts. And by memory spills when you don’t have enough memory. And by integrity … Read more
Why Invoke-DbaQuery Is My Most-Used dbatools Query
April 24, 2025
In this blog post, we will audit the dbatools command Invoke-DbaQuery. 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. Invoke-DbaQuery is the Swiss army knife of all dbatools commands as … Read more
Bizarre Love Triangle (Sysadmins, AV tools and DBAs)
March 25, 2025
“Every time I think of you, I feel shot right through with a bolt of blue…” – If your SQL Servers (and especially your SQL Server Availability Groups and Failover Cluster instances) could speak – that’s what they’d say about the times your security and sysadmin teams deploy a new AV tool without talking to … Read more
Blue Monday: Not for Your SQL Servers!
March 20, 2025
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
Regret (SQL Server Edition)
March 19, 2025
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
On Mentoring: A T-SQL Tuesday post
March 11, 2025
Deborah Melkin is hosting the community T-SQL Tuesday #184 carnival of blog posts. Her topic is one that is near and dear to her – and also near and dear to us here at Straight Path – Mentoring and Sponsorships. I am really looking forward to reading all of the posts this topic generates. Deb … Read more
Evaluating SQL Server Managed Service Providers.
March 9, 2025
For full disclosure – this is the business we are in here at Straight Path IT Solutions. We know something about running a SQL Server Managed Services practice. While we’d love to talk to you and work with us, there are a lot of excellent firms out there like our friends at Dallas DBAs, Procure … Read more
Managing Orphaned Users in SQL Server with sp_FindOrphanedUser
September 26, 2024
Addressing orphaned users is an important piece of SQL Server security management. When left unchecked, you can accumulate an overwhelming number of users that exist in a database but do not have a correlating login in the master database, thus preventing access to the server or the database at all. There are dbatools PowerShell modules … Read more
Introducing sp_CheckBackup: Check Your SQL Server Backups for Recoverability Issues
August 14, 2024
Whether you are backing up your SQL Server databases with Ola Hallengren’s scripts, Maintenance Plans, or some third-party software, your backups are your lifeline for recovering your data in case of a disaster. So…are your databases recoverable? Do you know WHERE your most recent backups were written? Do you know WHEN they were written? Did … Read more
SQL Server Security: 3 Homework Assignments to Start Today
June 30, 2024
This post is part of our SQL Server security blog series, 30 SQL Server Security Checks in 30 Days. We’re publishing a new security check every day in the month of June. Visit our sp_CheckSecurity page to learn about our free SQL Server tool you can download and run to check your own server. Thanks … Read more