DBA

Unraveling the Mystery of the Suspect Pages Table

In the vast world of SQL Server, data integrity is paramount. One critical component in maintaining this integrity is the Suspect Pages Table, a feature many database administrators (DBAs) may encounter but not fully understand. This table, an often-overlooked aspect of SQL Server’s system databases, plays a vital role in…

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DBA

DAC cannot be used to perform database backup

DAC (Dedicated Administrator Connection) is a well-known function of SQL Server for the case that the server isn’t responding to regular connection for various reasons like heavy-load etc.  Having the magic DAC in the pocket can lead administrators to the opinion that they are save in such a case, that…
DBA

OdbcPrec() and OdbcScale() functions

I have discovered these two functions accidentally when searching for something else. I was trying to find more information about them but there is nothing in the official documentation and these function can’t be found in any metadata view like sys.all_object etc. It looks like they exist in SQL Server…
DBA

Background process can block restore of database

We can use database snapshots for the development of new databases or fine tunning complex upgrade scripts. All active connections must be closed before the database can be restored from a database snapshot. Closing of active connections manually via Activity Monitor isn’t an option that can be easily automated so…

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DBA

Kde najít SQL Server 2017 Configuration Manager

Když nainstalujete SQL Server 2017 na nejnovější Windows 10 a bude chtít pomocí SQL Server Configuration Manageru změnit parametry instance, bude jeho ikonu hledat v nainstalovaných programech marně. Nově je totiž Configuration Manager distribuován jako snap-in do Microsoft Management Console (mmc.exe) a pokud jej chcete spustit, použijte WIN+R a zadejte:…
DBA

How to Protect Transactional Replica Against Breaking Data Modifications?

In our scenario we have created transactional replica of our the production database to the staging machine where developers can prepare queries to be later executed in production. But in few days one of developers executed prepared DELETE statement directly against replica and the replication stopped to work with the…