While planning to configure always on availability group for first time on a multi subnet cluster found following use articles, it provides clear picture in terms of design and architecture, our requirement was to build SQL 2012 cluster on DC1 along with a reporting standalone SQL instance in same DC1, along with it, we want to have DR solution in DC2 where two standalone SQL instances are present on their respective server, to achieve this […]

    For setting up replication on AlwaysOn availability group in SQL Server 2012 and above, following need to be taken care to ensure replication will work irrespective of the AAG placement.   The following sections build the environment described above:   Configure a remote distributor Configure the Publisher at the original Publisher Configure Remote distribution on possible publishers Configure the Secondary Replica Hosts as Replication Publishers Redirect the Original Publisher to the AG Listener […]

As we know the solution for SQL Server Data at rest encryption is TDE (Transparent Data Encryption) but what if application need End to End data encryption for PII fields, the solution is Always Encrypt columns in SQL 2016 Ent. Ed., from support DBA perspective it’s more of setting it up and supporting it but major liability lies with application developer, they need to validate and implement solution in first place; certainly there are few […]

To change server collation following steps needs to be done,   Use the SQL Server set up, and run the following command from the folder where set up file is located,   Imp Note: this will rebuild master database and subsequently all information like user db, logins, jobs (msdb) will be lost, script out everything as described below before triggering the command.   <sql server media folder>:/Setup.exe /QUIET /ACTION=REBUILDDATABASE /INSTANCENAME=INSTANAMEHERE /SQLSYSADMINACCOUNTS=DOMAINNAME\SERVICEACCOUNNTNAME /SAPWD= SAPASSWORD /SQLCOLLATION=SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AI (The […]

A good news for those who manage SQL releases, now CU updates are backed by Microsoft and one should not wait for SP releases, CU should be applied as early as possible,   https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/sqlreleaseservices/announcing-updates-to-the-sql-server-incremental-servicing-model-ism/   Updates to Cumulative Update Messaging and Guidance: Over the years, as we released CUs (Cumulative Updates), you have become familiar with a certain type of deterrent messaging around those updates. Examples like the below messages often lead DBA’s to plan […]

TDE (Transparent Data Encryption) is an inbuilt encryption feature of SQL Server Enterprise Edition introduced by Microsoft from SQL server 2008 onwards, this comes in handy when someone has to secure the PII (Personal Identifiable Information) from prying eyes, as it is Enterprise Edition feature only hence comes with a premium price. So while I got a request to analyze implementation of it on more than 200+ SQL standard edition then first thing which has […]

Came across following links relevant to Virtual NUMA, read for additional knowledge,     Vmware: https://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-55/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.vmware.vsphere.resmgmt.doc%2FGUID-A80A6337-7B99-48C8-B024-EE47E2366C1B.html     Hyper-v https://technet.microsoft.com/en-ca/library/dn282282.aspx

I Policy-Based Management is a very useful feature of SQL Server 2008 and later, if you like to audit certain parameters or enforce certain restriction on particular SQL Server/s, but first this to notice is will there be any overhead on current performance of SQL Server or not, basically the answer depends upon the way you are going to use it,   Q. What is the overhead of Policy-Based Management on my SQL Server? A. […]

Text Reference: http://dba.stackexchange.com/questions/19870/how-to-identify-which-query-is-filling-up-the-tempdb-transaction-log Some tips for minimizing tempdb utilization 1. Use fewer #temp tables and @table variables 2. Minimize concurrent index maintenance, and avoid the SORT_IN_TEMPDB option if it isn’t needed 3. Avoid unnecessary cursors; avoid static cursors if you think this may be a bottleneck, since static cursors use work tables in tempdb – though this is the type of cursor I always recommend if tempdb isn’t a bottleneck 4. Try to avoid spools […]

If you are a DBA and you need to track the current release of SQL Server build then this link will come handy, use it at your wish as it’s not official page but a blog community page, http://sqlserverbuilds.blogspot.ca/ Excerpt as of writing this article, Quick summary:   RTM (Gold, no SP) SP1 SP2 SP3 SP4 SQL Server 2012codename Denali 11.00.2100.60 CTP       SQL Server 2008 R2codename Kilimanjaro 10.50.1600.1 10.50.2500 10.50.4000     […]