Tag: performance tuning

It’s PASS Summit Time!

This week, I’m dedicating all my blog content to PASS Summit. Why? Because I’m here and it seems stupid to not talk about that.

Oh dear, it’s Friday, and I’ve got a plane to catch. I suppose I should post some thoughts from the week. Hey, has anyone seen my sneakers?

All updates will be under this line. Hit refresh once in a while. Enjoy the show.

Livefeed!

What a great week here in Seattle. The conference was a grand whirlwind of catching up with old friends as usual, but I was really wowed by the number of first time attendees.

If you missed the announcement, Red Gate said during their keynote that there will be a bunch of mini-PASS events coming up too. If the main thing keeping you away from Seattle is travel, I’d encourage you to check out the others when they happen. They’ll be happening in Dallas, NYC, and Amsterdam. I’ll be at as many as they’ll have me for. Speaking to many attendees, they say that if they weren’t local to the area they’d never be able to go. This may be your chance to get involved in a far more convenient location.

It can be difficult to describe the value of attending these things, and I’m somewhat terrible at marketing pitches. But what has struck me over the years is that I’ve become friends with everyone I started off idolizing. It’s quite an exceptional community that has been built up over the years and events like these make me happy and honored to be a part of it.

Every time someone says hello, thanks me for something, wants to take a picture, and especially when they seek me out to ask me a question, it really reinforces the reach that being a part of this community gives. It doesn’t take much to share something that helps many people in great ways.

Anyway, my place is taking off. See you all next time around.

Going Further

If this is the kind of SQL Server stuff you love learning about, you’ll love my training. I’m offering a 75% discount to my blog readers if you click from here. I’m also available for consulting if you just don’t have time for that, and need to solve database performance problems quickly. You can also get a quick, low cost health check with no phone time required.

It’s PASS Summit Time!

This week, I’m dedicating all my blog content to PASS Summit. Why? Because I’m here and it seems stupid to not talk about that.

It’s Thursday, and it’s time for my regular session: Everything You Know About Isolation Levels Is Wrong.

That’s from 15:45 to 17:00PM in the Terrace Suite. Come by and laugh at Average NOLOCK Enjoyers with me.

All updates will be under this line. Hit refresh once in a while. Enjoy the show.

Livefeed!

Catch me live streaming!

 

Going Further

If this is the kind of SQL Server stuff you love learning about, you’ll love my training. I’m offering a 75% discount to my blog readers if you click from here. I’m also available for consulting if you just don’t have time for that, and need to solve database performance problems quickly. You can also get a quick, low cost health check with no phone time required.

It’s PASS Summit Time!

This week, I’m dedicating all my blog content to PASS Summit. Why? Because I’m here and it seems stupid to not talk about that.

Hey, it’s finally Wednesday. That means I can sleep in and have nothing to do but annoy people around the convention center.

All updates will be under this line. Hit refresh once in a while. Enjoy the show.

Livefeed!

Going Further

If this is the kind of SQL Server stuff you love learning about, you’ll love my training. I’m offering a 75% discount to my blog readers if you click from here. I’m also available for consulting if you just don’t have time for that, and need to solve database performance problems quickly. You can also get a quick, low cost health check with no phone time required.

It’s PASS Summit Time!

This week, I’m dedicating all my blog content to PASS Summit. Why? Because I’m here and it seems stupid to not talk about that.

Since it’s Tuesday, that means me and Kendra are… still teaching all day. Like yesterday, everything will get updated as time allows.

All updates will be under this line. Hit refresh once in a while. Enjoy the show.

Livefeed!

Alright, doing better on this today. The first step is remembering to do it.

Here are some fun pictures!

Going Further

If this is the kind of SQL Server stuff you love learning about, you’ll love my training. I’m offering a 75% discount to my blog readers if you click from here. I’m also available for consulting if you just don’t have time for that, and need to solve database performance problems quickly. You can also get a quick, low cost health check with no phone time required.

It’s PASS Summit Time!

This week, I’m dedicating all my blog content to PASS Summit. Why? Because I’m here and it seems stupid to not talk about that.

Since it’s Monday, that means me and Kendra are teaching all day. I will partially be blogging updates as time allows.

All updates will be under this line. Hit refresh once in a while. Enjoy the show.

Livefeed!

It turns out that teaching all day doesn’t give you much time to update blog posts.

The class me and Kendra did on performance tuning internals went fantastic, and the nice folks at Red Gate remembered my birthday.

We had about 70 people show up. Great questions (the answers were pretty stellar too, if I do say so myself), and absolutely no post-lunch nappers.

Anyway, it’s 6am here in Seattle while I’m updating this a day late. I have a second precon to do some prep work for.

Thanks for reading!

Going Further

If this is the kind of SQL Server stuff you love learning about, you’ll love my training. I’m offering a 75% discount to my blog readers if you click from here. I’m also available for consulting if you just don’t have time for that, and need to solve database performance problems quickly. You can also get a quick, low cost health check with no phone time required.

More Of What Missing Index Requests Miss In SQL Server

Thanks for watching!

Going Further

If this is the kind of SQL Server stuff you love learning about, you’ll love my training. I’m offering a 75% discount to my blog readers if you click from here. I’m also available for consulting if you just don’t have time for that, and need to solve database performance problems quickly. You can also get a quick, low cost health check with no phone time required.

Bountiful Embarrassment

One thing that has been absolutely plaguing social media, particularly LinkedIn, is an abundance of LLM generated content.

I suppose this is a reasonable comeuppance for a company that decided to auto-opt-in every user to allow for LLMs to be trained on their content.

The fastest and surest way for LLMs to get stupider than they already are, of course, is to train them on their own bad information.

There is some value in the abilities of LLMs, but flat out, it’s not technical information.

Here’s what I’ve used it for with some success:

• Creating images for Beer Gut Magazine
• Summarizing long documents
• Writing boilerplate stuff that I’m bad at (sales and marketing drivel, abstracts, lists of topics)

But every time I ask it to do that stuff, I really have to pay attention to what it gives me back. It’s often a reasonable starting place, but sometimes it really goes off the rails.

That’s true of technical stuff, too. Here’s where I’ve had a really bad time, and if there’s anything you know deeply and intimately, you’ll find similar problems too.

I’ve asked it some SQL Server stuff, like:

• Start this DMV query for me: It comes up with DMVs that don’t exist and columns that don’t exist.
• Write me a restore command for a single table: It actually tried to do it. There is no such thing as object-level restores in SQL Server.
• Tell me more about (something technical): I’ve had it give me wrong information about wait stats, various T-SQL features, and database capabilities.

This is one of my favorite interactions.

In other words, it’s wrong more than it’s right, even about yes or no questions.

Worse, it’s confidently wrong. I need you to fully understand what a farce this all is.

Anyone who thinks it’s capable of taking on more complex tasks and challenges knows nothing about the complex tasks and challenges that they think it’s capable of taking on.

What’s The Point?

I see a lot of people using various LLMs to generate stuff to say, and it’s all the same, and it’s all wrong.

How many times can you post the same “10 things to avoid in SQL queries” list that starts with “Avoid SELECT *” and expect to be taken seriously?

Worse, there are people who post and re-post all manner of “SQL tips” that are blatantly incorrect, missing important details, or offer advice that ranges from doesn’t-make-any-sense-whatsoever to downright-harmful.

If these were people who knew what they were talking about in the first place, they’d be ashamed and embarrassed to read what they’re posting.

But they aren’t people who know what they’re talking about, and so the badness proliferates.

Somehow or another, these posts get tons of traction and interaction. I don’t understand the amplification mechanisms, but I find the whole situation quite appalling.

For all the talk about various forms of misinformation, and how the general public needs to be protected from it, I don’t see anyone rushing to plug the onslaught of garbage that various LLMs produce.

Seriously. Talk to it about something you know quite well for a bit, and you’ll quickly see the problems with things it comes up with.

Notice I’m not using the term AI here, because if I may quote from an excellent article about all this mess:

Generative AI is being sold on multiple lies:

• That it’s artificial intelligence.

• That it’s “going to get better.”

• That it will become artificial intelligence.

• That it is inevitable.

If you want to mess with LLMs for language-oriented tasks, fine. Treat it like having an executive assistant and double/triple check everything it comes up with.

If you’re using LLMs to come up with technical content, you need to stop immediately. You’re lying to people, and embarrassing yourself in the process.

We all know you didn’t write that, and anyone with a modicum of sense knows just how little you actually know.

I was recently linked to this podcast about the whole situation, and I found it quite spot-on:

Thanks for reading!

Going Further

If this is the kind of SQL Server stuff you love learning about, you’ll love my training. I’m offering a 75% discount to my blog readers if you click from here. I’m also available for consulting if you just don’t have time for that, and need to solve database performance problems quickly. You can also get a quick, low cost health check with no phone time required.

What Missing Index Requests Miss In SQL Server

Thanks for watching!

Going Further

If this is the kind of SQL Server stuff you love learning about, you’ll love my training. I’m offering a 75% discount to my blog readers if you click from here. I’m also available for consulting if you just don’t have time for that, and need to solve database performance problems quickly. You can also get a quick, low cost health check with no phone time required.

New Query Transformation Rules in Azure SQLDB

Thanks for watching!

Going Further

If this is the kind of SQL Server stuff you love learning about, you’ll love my training. I’m offering a 75% discount to my blog readers if you click from here. I’m also available for consulting if you just don’t have time for that, and need to solve database performance problems quickly. You can also get a quick, low cost health check with no phone time required.

Last Year

Kendra and I both taught solo precons, and got to talking about how much easier it is to manage large crowds when you have a little helper with you, and decided to submit two precons this year that we’d co-present.

Amazingly, they both got accepted. Cheers and applause. So this year, we’ll be double-teaming Monday and Tuesday with a couple pretty cool precons.

You can register for PASS Summit here, taking place live and in-person November 4-8 in Seattle.

Here are the details!

Day One: A Practical Guide to Performance Tuning Internals

Whether you’re aiming to be the next great query tuning wizard or you simply need to tackle tough business problems at work, you need to understand what makes a workload run fast– and especially what makes it run slowly.

Erik Darling and Kendra Little will show you the practical way forward, and will introduce you to the internal subsystems of SQL Server with a practical guide to their capabilities, weaknesses, and most importantly what you need to know to troubleshoot them as a developer or DBA.

They’ll teach you how to use your understanding of the database engine, the storage engine, and the query optimizer to analyze problems and identify what is a nothingburger best practice and what changes will pay off with measurable improvements.

With a blend of bad jokes, expertise, and proven strategies, Erik and Kendra will set you up with practical skills and a clear understanding of how to apply these lessons to see immediate improvements in your own environments.

Day Two: Query Quest: Conquer SQL Server Performance Monsters

Picture this: a day crammed with fun, fascinating demonstrations for SQL Server and Azure SQL.

This isn’t your typical training day; this session follows the mantra of “learning by doing,” with a good dose of the unexpected. Think of this as a SQL Server video game, where Erik Darling and Kendra Little guide you through levels of weird query monsters and performance tuning obstacles.

By the time we reach the final boss, you’ll have developed an appetite for exploring the unknown and leveled up your confidence to tackle even the most daunting of database dilemmas.

It’s SQL Server, but not as you know it—more fun, more fascinating, and more scalable than you thought possible.

Going Further

We’re both really excited to deliver these, and have BIG PLANS to have these sessions build on each other so folks who attend both days have a real sense of continuity.

Of course, you’re welcome to pick and choose, but who’d wanna miss out on either of these with accolades like this?

You can register for PASS Summit here, taking place live and in-person November 4-8 in Seattle.

See you there!

Going Further

If this is the kind of SQL Server stuff you love learning about, you’ll love my training. I’m offering a 75% discount to my blog readers if you click from here. I’m also available for consulting if you just don’t have time for that, and need to solve database performance problems quickly. You can also get a quick, low cost health check with no phone time required.