In my previous blogs, I had described how Readable Secondary functionality works SQL Server 2012. As you look at other database vendors, you will realize that they also provide the functionality to offload read workload to secondary or mirror. However...

When you connect to Secondary Replica, but it has not been enabled for read workload, you will get the following error under two situations (1) You connect directly to one of the databases under availability group. It is denied because the database...

In the previous blog http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sqlserverstorageengine/archive/2011/12/22/alwayson-challenges-with-statistics-on-readonly-database-database-snapshot-and-secondary-replica.aspx we described that stale or missing statistics will potentially...

I am sure you all have dealt with situations when the statistics on one or more columns is either missing or not up-to date. When user submits a query for execution, the SQL Server goes through logical (simplifying or restructuring a query) and physical...

In my previous blog http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sqlserverstorageengine/archive/2011/12/22/alwayson-minimizing-blocking-of-redo-thread-when-running-reporting-workload-on-secondary-replica.aspx , I described how Readable Secondary eliminates potential REDO...

In earlier blog http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sqlserverstorageengine/archive/2011/12/22/alwayson-impact-on-the-primary-workload-when-you-run-reporting-workload-on-the-secondary-replica.aspx , I discussed the impact on RTO in case the REDO thread gets blocked...

The primary goal of AlwaysOn technology is to provide High Availability for Tier-1 workloads. The ability to leverage secondary replica(s) to offload reporting workloads and database/transaction log backups is useful, but only if it does not compromise...

One question that I often get asked is if there will any data latency if you are using 'Sync' replica for read workload. The short answer is yes. Here is the blog that explains it in detail. While the reporting workload running on the secondary replica...

In the previous blog http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sqlserverstorageengine/archive/2011/12/22/AlwaysOn-setting-up-readable-seconary-replica.aspx I mentioned that there are two options to configure secondary replica for running read workload. The first option...

The easiest way to create an availability group and adding replicas is to use the availability group wizard. You can invoke the wizard by right-clicking on 'Availability Groups'. The picture of the explorer window below shows that I have created 1 availability...

This series of blogs is targeting AlwaysON Readable Secondary. Please refer to http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sqlalwayson/archive/tags/availability+group/ for other blogs in the related area Readable Secondary is part of AlwaysOn suite of functionality available...

For those who have been around databases for any length of time, the idea of putting a database that you care about from either a reliability or performance perspective on an (SMB – Server Message Block) file share seems like a crazy idea, but recent...

Hello to you all, The SQL Server team is hiring arcoss all test, dev and PM discipline. If you or someone you know is interested, please do apply for the job using the link with job postings below. Look forward to hearing from some of you. Thanks...

Recently, I was asked this question "If I have a compressed index and I rebuild it with fill factor 70%, do I actually get any fill factor? Or does compression take away the empty space?". The answer to this question is 'yes'. In fact all index options...

Please refer to http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sqlcat/archive/2011/02/20/concurrency-series-my-application-was-running-fine-yesterday-buy-why-is-it-blocking-today.aspx for details. Cross-referencing here Thanks Sunil Agarwal

Please refer to http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sqlcat/archive/2011/02/20/concurrency-series-minimizing-blocking-between-updaters.aspx for details. Cross referencing my post. Thanks Sunil Agarwal

Please refer to http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sqlcat/archive/2011/02/20/concurrency-series-why-do-i-get-block-when-no-one-has-locked-the-row-s-being-queried.aspx for details Thanks Sunil Agarwal

I posted this in SQLCAT blog site. This post provides reference to http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sqlcat/archive/2011/02/20/concurrency-series-why-do-i-get-blocking-when-i-use-read-uncommitted-isolation-level-or-use-nolock-hint.aspx Thanks Sunil Agarwal

Please refer to the blog http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sqlcat/archive/2011/02/20/concurrency-series-basics-of-transaction-isolation-levels.aspx Thanks Sunil Agarwal

As part of my role as a program manager in SQL Server Engine, one of the areas I am reponsible for is the concurrency related features in SQL Server. If you have been involved with database applications as a develeoper or as a DBA in keeping the application...

In my earlier blog http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sqlserverstorageengine/archive/2008/10/24/new-update-on-minimal-logging-for-sql-server-2008.aspx , we discussued how we can get minimal logging using TF-610 when using TSQL INSERT statement. Interestingly, you...

People often ask if they can get native SQL Server backup compression using VDI interface. The simple answer is 'yes' but there are few things you need to be aware of as described below. You can get details on VDI by clicking link-to-VDI-Specifications...

I am publishing this Blog on behalf of Hermann Daeubler, our SAP expert Scenario: Let’s assume we have a table consisting of five partitions and the one in the middle needs to be dropped. In SQL Server we need the following steps to accomplish this...

Another improved functionality in SQL Server 2008 R2 I am posting this on behalf of Juergen Thomas who has been with SQL Server PM team from 12+ years and is an expert in SAP. Juergen>> In this article I’d like to talk about another improvement...

When you compress an object (index or table or partition), there are two components of space savings that you get. First component is fragmentaton (i.e. the original object might have been fragmented). The object gets degragmented as part of doing compression...