Obtaining machine names for failed logins
The SQL Server error log contains invaluable details about failed logins, but only if you enable login auditing. Once enabled, the error log will provide the details of logins that failed including the name of…
Allowing users to start and stop SQL Server Agent Jobs
I recently received a request to allow certain users to start and stop SQL Server Agent jobs, without giving them the ability to use the SQL Server Agent tools in SQL Server Management Studio. I…
Removing a filegroup that contains data.
Occasionally, you may find you have an extra filegroup that is no longer required for whatever reason. In order to remove that filegroup, you must move all data from that filegroup to a new filegroup….
How can I automate statistics management?
Occasionally, it can be beneficial to turn off AUTO_CREATE_STATISTICS and AUTO_UPDATE_STATISTICS, and manage these items yourself. I’ve created the following stored procedure, which lives in master to allow it to be called from the context…
Missing Index DMVs have a limited capacity. How can I work around that?
The system dynamic-management-views for tracking index suggestions are limited to displaying 500 indexes at most. In a busy system with either a lot of databases or a lot of tables, this can be substantially limiting….
Wait Stats over Time
Looking at Wait Stats over time while a specific piece of work is taking place can be a very helpful method for troubleshooting performance issues. SQL Server exposes wait stats so you can see what…