Back To Basics

Back To Basics: Why isn’t maintenace automatic?

One of the questions which I see pop up from time to time (especially when I used to work for a VAR that wrote software for small businesses) is why doesn't SQL Server do the maintenance automatically?  Things like checking for corruption (DBCC CHECKDB), index defragmentation, backups, etc. The...

The SQL peps are invading the NETDA meeting in Redmond next week

That's right SQL People, the .NET folks at the Redmond, WA NETDA user group has invited me to come and speak at their user group meeting on Monday August 8th, 2011 in the Building 41 cafeteria on the Microsoft Campus. I'll be giving a session...

Events, events, events. When the hell am I suposed to get work done?

This week I've got a few speaking events to let everyone know about. On Tuesday April 6th, at 6pm I'll be speaking to the LA C# User Group.  The meeting is held at the Manhattan Beach Library at 1320 Highland Ave in Manhattan Beach, CA 90266.  The group...

Back To Basics: Reading an Execution Plan

All to often when helping people look at query performance problems I'll ask them to look at the execution plan, and see what it says.  Most query performance problems can be resolved simply by looking at the execution plan and seeing where you need to add an index. All to often I (and others)...

Back To Basics: Clustered vs NonClustered Indexes; what’s the difference?

SQL Server has two basics kinds of indexes. They are clustered and nonclustered indexes. There are some fundamental differences to the two which are key to understanding before you can master index tuning.

Back To Basics: What are indexes and what are they used for?

A while back someone posted on the ITKE forum asking what Indexes where, and what they were used for. I put up a quick answer, but I felt that it deserved a more in depth blog post; so here it is.

Back To Basics: Getting Data from an XML Document

One of the most popular ways to get data multiple pieces of data in a single parameter from one stored procedure to another, or from a client application to the database is to use XML. This can be done in SQL Server 2000 by using the NTEXT (or TEXT) datatype, and in SQL 2005 using the XML...

Back To Basics: Creating Indexes

After you have created your tables, and stored procedures you will have a basic idea of what queries are going to be running against your database.  If you haven't already done so, its now time to start adding indexes to your database.  The catch with index is that there is such a thing as to...

Back To Basics: What’s the difference between a Scan and a Seek?

There are a few basic operations which SQL will perform when looking for the data that you need.  Here they are listed in the order of worst to best.

• Table Scan
• Clustered Index Scan
• Index Scan
• Clustered Index Seek
• Index Seek

Slide Decks and Sample Code for SoCal Code Camp at USC

Here are the slide decks and sample code from my sessions at this weekends SoCal code camp.