SQL Server Radio

Guy and Eitan talk about some interesting news from Microsoft about SQL Server in Azure. And also discuss the topic of Backups and Recovery, RTO, RPO, RCO, and database Integrity Checks. Relevant links: Microsoft Copilot in Azure extends capabilities to Azure SQL Database (Private Preview) - Microsoft Community Hub Regex in SQL DB (microsoft.com) SQL Server Regular Expressions Library Sample - Microsoft Community Hub STRING_SPLIT (Transact-SQL) - SQL Server | Microsoft Learn Do You Have a Proper Backup Strategy? (madeiradata.com) CHECKDB From Every Angle: Consistency Checking Options for a VLDB - Paul S. Randal (sqlskills.com) Where to Run DBCC on Always On Availability Groups - Brent Ozar Unlimited® Also, check out our previous episode, if you haven't yet: SQL Server Radio: Episode 161 - EXCLUSIVE: Announcing the Biggest Innovation for Azure SQL Managed Instances (Codename: Hermes)

Niko Neugebauer and Vladimir Ivanovic are our esteemed guests for today, and they have a HUGE announcement to make about Azure SQL Managed Instances. Extra! Extra! 🗞 Hear all about it on this exclusive scoop here at the SQL Server Radio podcast! Relevant links: Azure SQL Managed Instance Next-gen GP (microsoft.com) Use Next-gen General Purpose service tier - Azure SQL Managed Instance | Microsoft Learn Try for free (preview) - Azure SQL Managed Instance | Microsoft LearnNext-gen General Purpose service tier brings 500 user dbs, improved storage and more to Azure #SQLMI (youtube.com)

Guy tries to convince Eitan that OPTION(RECOMPILE) is the ultimate "Turbo" button in SQL Server, and that it's strongly underappreciated. Relevant links for more info: OPTION(RECOMPILE) (Transact-SQL) - SQL Server | Microsoft Learn Recompile a Stored Procedure - SQL Server | Microsoft Learn Should I use option(recompile)? – SQLServerCentral SQL SERVER - Parameter Sniffing and OPTION (RECOMPILE) - SQL Authority with Pinal Dave

Guy and Eitan discuss various practices in SQL Server that hurt performance and possibly waste money, negative VarDecimal numbers, renumbering Identity columns, and the new Azure Database Fleet Manager. Relevant links: SQL Server IN Clause With Multiple Literal Values Performance Behaviour | Neeraj Prasad SharmaCould SQL Injection be dangerous even when perfectly safe? | Eitan BluminThe Anatomy of Vardecimals | Mark S. RasmussenUtility Scripts/ReNumber_Identity_Column.sqlIntroducing Azure Database Fleet Manager Also, Happy New Year! 🎉🎈🥂

Guy and Eitan talk about some great things about SQL Server, and mostly Guy’s experience in digging into execution plans and generating synthetic IO workloads. Relevant links: What’s new in SQL Server and Azure SQL 2023 Year in Review Multi-Tenancy in the Real World | Eitan Blumin (Data Weekender 6.5)

Guy and Eitan go back to their SQL Server roots and go hardcore into execution plan analysis and database corruption. Relevant links: Health Check Scripts/Find_Top_Exec_Plans_to_Optimize.sql SQLServerFast.com Database Corruption Challenge by Steve Steadman A DBA's Guide to the Proper Handling of Corruption Data TLV Summit PASS Data Community Summit

Guy and Eitan celebrate resuming the school year with some learning of their own. This time, focusing on encryption types in SQL Server. Relevant links: External REST Endpoint Invocation is now GA! Types of Encryption in SQL Server PWDENCRYPT and PWDCOMPARE Dynamic Data Masking And also, don’t forget to register for the upcoming Data TLV Summit!

Today we have Kevin Chant as our guest! We talk about Kevin’s favorite topics: Microsoft Fabric, Azure DevOps, SQL Server, and more. Relevant links: https://www.kevinrchant.com/2023/06/13/create-your-own-microsoft-fabric-environment/

Guy and Eitan discuss several interesting topics and recent experiences that you'd want to hear about! Relevant links: Trigram Wildcard String Search in SQL ServerThe Story of DBeaver, PostgreSQL, and the silly data engineerSQL Server Error Log ManagementHigh VLF Counts Got You Down? Here's How to Keep Them Low and Performance High

As promised in the previous episode, Guy and Eitan interview an actual human this time! The one and only, the famed Erik Darling is our guest for today! Check out his official website: Erik Darling DataErik Darling's YouTube Channel We apologize in advance for Guy's occasional audio glitches, as he was having network issues on the day of recording.

Guy and Eitan try something new for today's show - we interview ChatGPT as our guest for today, and make it pretend that it's a SQL Server expert! Let's see how it does. Relevant links: Monitor performance by using the Query StoreBrent Ozar UnlimitedSQLSkillsScary DBASQL AuthorityPASS Data Community SummitSQLBitsGroupBy Virtual ConferenceData Platform Summit

Guy and Eitan share their experience from SQLBits 2023 and some of their favorite sessions. Relevant links: Official SQLBits WebsiteSQLBits Content LibrarySQLBits YouTube ChannelSQL Server Debugging with WinDbg – an IntroductionJoin #TeamHugo and Help Fight LeukemiaParameter Sensitive Plan optimizationAzure Functions overviewGitHub CoPilot

Guy and Eitan discuss some new and existing capabilities in the SQL Server engine related to Intelligent Query Processing, and whether our job positions as DBAs are at risk due to the imminent takeover by our robot overlords. Relevant links: Intelligent Query ProcessingAdaptive Joins (Batch)Intelligent Query Processing Feedback family of featuresParameter Sensitive Plan OptimizationScalar UDF Inlining

Guy and Eitan list several common mistakes done by DBAs in SQL Server. Some relevant links: Architecting Database Dev and Test Environments: Best Practices and Anti-Patterns for SQL ServerOla Hallengren's Maintenance SolutionHADR My Jobs - Open Source Solution by MadeiraColumnstore Indexes: Planning and ImplementationTSQL Script to Check for Weak PasswordsScript to Check for Max DOP Configuration Best Practice

Today we have the pleasure of hosting Rob Sewell, and talking about the upcoming SQLBits event of 2023! Relevant links: SQLBits 2023 agenda, speakers, pricing, and registration - events.sqlbits.com/2023YouTube playlist of all 195 sessions from SQLBits 2022 - available for free!SQLBits helpers form - beard.media/sqlbits-helpersRob Sewell's blog - blog.robsewell.com

Guy and Eitan finally celebrate the generally available release of SQL Server 2022! And also discuss other announcements from PASS Data Community Summit, and also various interesting news and features of Azure SQL announced in November 2022. Relevant links: SQL Server 2022 is now generally availableConsumption-based PAYG billing model for SQL Server 2022 on-premPASS Data Community SummitHug a DBA song by Killa DBASQL Server 2022 song by Killa DBASQL Server Native ClientMicrosoft OLE DB Driver (MSOLEDBSQL) for SQL ServerMicrosoft ODBC Driver for SQL ServerMid-November 2022 Public Preview updates to Azure SQLAzure SQL database external REST endpoints integration in public previewMid-November 2022 General Availability updates to Azure SQLPublic Preview Azure SQL Managed Instance feature wave for November 2022General Availability Azure SQL Managed Instance feature wave for November 2022Learn more about the November 2022 Feature Wave for Azure SQL Managed InstanceAzure SQL - General availability updates for late November 2022Azure SQL - Public preview updates for late November 2022DR Secondary licensing is free with Azure VM and SQL Managed Instance in PAYG model

Guy and Eitan play a game of word associations to spout a bunch of stuff about SQL Server features - mostly reviewing new system objects that replaced old DBCC commands, useful scripts in our toolbox, and talking about Application Reliability Errors. Relevant links: Buffer Pool ExtensionSQL Server editions comparison dashboard by domains, features, and scale capacities – by Romain FerratonSQL Server Standard vs Enteprise Edition features history – by Romain FerratonSQL Server Scale Limits by Version and Edition - by Eitan Bluminsys.dm_os_buffer_descriptorsMadeira Toolbox: Buffer Pool Distribution by Tables.sqlGet the last known actual execution plan using sys.dm_exec_query_plan_statssys.dm_db_page_infosys.dm_db_log_infosys.dm_db_stats_propertiessys.dm_db_stats_histogramMadeira Toolbox: Shrink All Shrinkable Transaction Logs.sqlMadeira Toolbox: Shrink_Transaction_Log_File.sqlMadeira Toolbox: Application_Reliability_Monitor_SQLServer.sqlMadeira Toolbox: Application_Reliability_Monitor_AzureSQLDB.sqlPASS Data Community Summit 2022 - Register now!

Today we're pleased to have the one and only Itzik Ben-Gan hosted at our show again! We talk about interesting SQL/T-SQL related topics, the experience of teaching, his new upcoming book edition of T-SQL Fundamentals, and more. Relevant links: Itzik's personal web page at tsql.lucient.comItzik Ben-Gan's Blog posts at SQLPerformance.comSQL Server Central - Question of the DayEven more fun with DATETIME arithmetics (Eitan Blumin)The Itzik Ben-Gan Trick (batch processing hack)

Guy and Eitan discuss a few new features in SQL Server 2022, and Guy tells a story about an interesting use case where a customer accidentally dropped their encryption keys in production. Relevant links: SQL Server 2022 RC0 is now available!Azure Active Directory authentication for SQL Server 2022Tutorial: Set up Azure Active Directory authentication for SQL ServerBidirectional Transactional Replication in SQL Managed InstanceConsiderations on Bidirectional Transactional ReplicationAzure Data Studio August release with SQL Server 2022 supportCreate identical symmetric keys on two servers - Microsoft DocsBACKUP SYMMETRIC KEY (Transact-SQL) - New SQL Server 2022 SyntaxTroubleshooting Long-Running Shrink Operations - Eitan BluminShrink_Database_File_in_Specified_Increments.sql - Madeira ToolboxToo Many Plans for the Same Query Hash - Eitan Blumin

Today, Guy has a lot of tips to share after reviewing one of those... "problematic" customer environments. Let's just say that he's got his hands full. But it's still fun, and you get to learn as well! Relevant links: Forced Parameterization | Microsoft DocsForced Parameterization Can Lead to Poor Performance | Microsoft Tech CommunityWhy Multiple Plans for One Query Are Bad | Brent OzarFind Unused IndexesFind Redundant IndexesJoin, Query, and Table Hints (Transact-SQL) | Microsoft DocsIndexed Views | Microsoft DocsSecond Normal Form