SQL Server Security on the Ground
Today we’re going to hit my top 5 – well, top 6 – boots-on-the-ground security tips for SQL server: schemas, db_owner, dynamic SQL, DENY, crossover groups, and secondary servers.
What are the different SQL Server high availability options?
There’s quite a bit of overlap among HA technologies, but they’re typically meant to protect against different things. The good news: many of them work together quite well! Here are the more popular approaches, and what they’re primarily for.
SQL is offline for 10 minutes this week. Meanwhile, this article takes 5 minutes to read.
Data folks talk a lot about uptime and “five nines”…a goal which means that 99.999% of the time, the system must be up. The issue is that many companies don’t bother to define what downtime means to them, and what downtime-causing threats are.
8 steps to consolidate SQL Server instances (part 2)
Your SQL shop has, is, or will eventually need to consolidate many instances down to a few, or at least fewer. So what’s the best way to plan and execute a consolidation? Let’s lay out the steps.
8 steps to consolidate SQL Server instances (part 1)
Your SQL shop has, is, or will eventually need to consolidate many instances down to a few, or at least fewer. So what’s the best way to plan and execute a consolidation? Let’s lay out the steps.
PowerShell: the best SQL Server management tool
Use PowerShell to manage hundreds of objects at once with just a few lines of code. PowerShell is, very simply, the most important management tool DBAs have. Here, I make a case and give some great examples.
Automate SQL Server error log alerting with Minion Enterprise
Minion Enterprise (ME) is our tool for auditing, managing, and alerting on SQL Server instances and servers. With ME, you can automate custom SQL Server error log searches! One of the features is the error log search alert. The Error Log Search module allows you to set up specific error log search terms in the dbo.ErrorLogSearch table. This …
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Which is the performance killer: SELECT INTO or INSERT INTO?
There are many ways to kill performance in a script or stored procedure. However, not many think about the possibility that adding columns to a temporary table can kill performance. Here, I’m going to show you how a simple design decision – using INSERT vs ALTER TABLE – can have a huge impact on your procedure …
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Protect yourself from Ransomware with Minion Enterprise
Ransomware is becoming a huge problem in the corporate world as more and more companies fall prey to this heinous act of terrorism. One of the biggest disasters that could befall you as a company – or even specifically as a DBA – is to come in one day and discover your shop has been …
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I’m the new DBA, and I’m locking down development servers
As the new DBA, I’m here to fix things for you. I’m going to take care of the things that keep causing fires and outages and slowdowns….and I’m locking down your dev environment. Here’s why.