On May 19th, Microsoft has updated the Support Policy for Microsoft SQL Server products that are running in a hardware virtualization environment , which you can find at the following link: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/956893/en-us The main update...

I've blogged some time ago about Microsoft recommendations for maximizing the performances of your disks subsystem for a SQL Server implementation : SQL Server - Speed up your Disks! http://blogs.technet.com/beatrice/archive/2008/06/09/sql-server...

A new version of MPS Reports has been released late April, at the following link: Microsoft Product Support Reports http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=CEBF3C7C-7CA5-408F-88B7-F9C79B7306C0&displaylang=en Amongst the...

A new great whitepaper to bookmark amongst your favourites: Troubleshooting Performance Problems in SQL Server 2008 http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd672789.aspx This documentation provides step-by-step guidelines for diagnosing...

SQL Server 2008 SP1 final version has been released. It contains all the announced great new features that we were all looking forward to, especially the slipstream and uninstall ones, which could save a lot of time (and headhackes) at installation...

Well well, long time without posting once again. This time I have a good enough reason… which is my relocation back to… La Dolce Vita. Yes, exactly, I am back in Italy, back to Milan, back to the place I grown up and where I have all of my...

Just woke up ready to celebrate my birthday (do not try to ask a woman how old she is :-P) and discovered the CTP version of SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1 (SP1) is now available. Hum, well, I will check it out but definitely not today I am afraid as...

If you recently found yourself in installing latest SQL Server 2005 Security Update (you did installed it right?): Microsoft Security Bulletin MS09-004 – Important http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS09-004.mspx ..and had...

So - today I've been made this question. "I have a DB, AUTO_UPDATE_STATISTICS option OFF (very bad idea, anyway :-)), I rebuild my indexes every week. I do not have major changes in my database. As update statistics with fullscan is a side effect...

For your joy (and especially for the joy of my customer :)) yesterday Microsoft has released a new Security Bulletin for SQL Server: Microsoft Security Bulletin MS09-004 – Important http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS09-004...

There isn't much information around ( other than the readme for service packs ) on which are the best practices on installing Service Packs, Cumulative Updates, Hotfixes on SQL Server installation. ...well till today really :-) This is nothing...

Next week I am going to present at this year's W-Tech event, which is due to be in London next week, at the Savoy Place. I am already working an my slide deck, and the title myself and my colleagues from Microsoft have been given is pretty exciting...

If you are based in Manchester or nearby, there are two interesting FREE SQL Server events planned in town! 5th February: UK SQL Server Usergroup Agenda has still to be confirmed, and will be posted here: http://www.sqlserverfaq.com/events/147...

A great opportunity to download (for FREE :-)) Introducing Microsoft SQL Server 2008 by Peter DeBetta, Greg Low, and Mark Whitehorn Learn about major new features in SQL Server 2008 including security, administration, and performance. ...

Umh, it has been a long time since my last post. I must admit, I've had brilliant holidays (relax and skiing) followed by a very bad flue, which summed up with all the XMas parties of 2008 makes 3 weeks without any post on my professional blog :-). ...

Microsoft has just shipped the first Cumulative Update for SQL Server 2005 SP3. This CU contains only hotfixes that were released in Cumulative Update 10 for SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2 and Cumulative Update 11 for SQL Server 2005 Service Pack...

Service Pack 3 for Microsoft SQL Server 2005 (build number 9.00.4035 ) is now available and ready to download at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=ae7387c3-348c-4faa-8ae5-949fdfbe59c4&displaylang=en . A complete List of...

If you are looking for some demos to play and learn about Resource Governor, you should have a look to the SQL Server SQLOS team blog , which has posted a couple of interesting ones. 1) Anatomy of SQL Server 2008 Resource Governor CPU Demo http...

One of the most common question I've received regarding data and backup compression in SQL Server 2008 is related to achievable results in terms of performance and compressio-ratio on very large databases. I've just found some interesting data published...

This is a nice section in 2008 Books On Line which I just found and wanted to blog about - mainly for my reference so that I can quickly find it when needed ;-) I've found it whilst looking for recommendations to troubleshoot Resource Governor,...

The SQL Server 2008 Upgrade Technical Reference Guide is now Live and available to download. It is a 490-page white paper (hold on, do not get scared, you don't need to read it all :-)) which covers the essential phases and steps to upgrade existing...

I've heard this question thousands of times so I've thought to try to summarize some recommendation in this blog post. For 32 bits , things are pretty straight-forward. If they are not, I've posted some comments some time ago: \3GB \PAE and...

Have you ever had to move your master database? Or have you ever opened the folder which contains your master database? Both cases - if that ever happened to you, you should already know about the Resource Database - a hidden, read-only database introduced...

Whilst surfing on the web last week, I've found this very nice blog from Vipul Shah, which happens to be a Microsoft colleague, which explains which are the key performance counters to monitor for your SQL Server instances and most importantly summarizes...

For those which live or work close to Reading - there will be a UserGroup on the 20th Evening held in TVP - Microsoft Offices. Agenda: 6pm – 6:30 Registration and networking + Tea/Coffee with biscuits. Meet and greet. 6:30pm –...