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Finding a use for Extended Properties in SQL Server

“Extended properties allow you to add custom properties to database objects”, so says the official Microsoft documentation. However, very few DBAs make use of them, if at all. This is actually a good thing, because indeed the scenarios in which this feature could be useful are relatively few and rare.

On the other hand, I also see DBAs essentially jumping through hoops to implement something, which could in fact very easily be implemented using Extended Properties.

What are these peculiar use cases? Let’s look at a few examples.

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The Asynchronous Ledger Trick for Fast SQL Server Insert, Update and Delete Processes

Do you find yourself facing performance problems and long lock chains caused by very frequent INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE statements being executed on a table? Check out this neat trick that could help you out and make all the difference in the world.

Read More »The Asynchronous Ledger Trick for Fast SQL Server Insert, Update and Delete Processes

Even more fun with DATETIME arithmetics!

In one of my previous posts, Fun with DATETIME Arithmetics, I introduced a way to use “math” to manipulate datetime values for effectively generating, calculating, and displaying intervals (i.e. difference between two datetime values). These mostly work with the addition and subtraction operators (+, -).

In one of the paragraphs, I mentioned multiplication and division, and posed the question about why anyone would ever need to do this.

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Keep Your MSDB Clean

As part of its regular, ongoing, day-to-day activities, your SQL Server instance would naturally collect historical data about its automated operations. If left unchecked, this historical data could pile up, leading to wasted storage space, performance hits, and even worse issues.

MSDB would obviously be collecting data about the SQL Agent job executions. But there are also several other types of historical data that needs to be cleaned up once in a while. I hope to cover all bases and leave no historical data un-cleaned.

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Monitoring SQL Server Version Updates using SentryOne

Following the recent acquisition of SentryOne by SolarWinds, I’ve decided to write a few special blog posts dedicated to our favorite SQL server monitoring platform.

Click here if you missed my previous post: Common issues during SentryOne version upgrades.

As part of the managed DBA service that Madeira data solutions provides, we make extensive use of the SentryOne monitoring and alerting platform. As such, we’ve gathered significant experience in using, managing, and maintaining the platform.

This also includes utilizing the platform to do all kinds of “unorthodox” monitoring, which is not available “out-of-the-box”.

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