SSMS has an option that allows you to change the colour of your query banner, which is useful if you want visually mark a server that you work with every-day. A while back, when I was frequently switching between live & test SQL instances, I set them to red/green. Red obviously meaning be cautious! Nowadays, […]
Exporting data out of SQL is an easy task, but there’s always a few snags that’ll crop up here and there, like always. This is just a quick note on the default export file options when using SQL Server Management Studio. To export a query the simplest way, it would be for us to click […]
There are many ways to check the size of a table in SQL Server. The way you'll do it will likely depend on what you're task at hand is. For example, a quick look at the Disk Usage by Top Tables report on a database you've never seen before would instantly show you the heavy […]
Backing up a database is something I’ve always found easier done within a query window. There’s not much to it; [crayon-5bee3c9023f29499832295/] That’s what I’m used to writing. I’ve no need to worry about the copy_only option these days, or check SQL Server Editions to see if I can use compression. Good times that was. Measuring […]
This is a simple guide to restoring a full backup file in SQL Server, covering a just a few options available during so. As always, have a read through Microsoft’s documentation page before-hand for proper info. 1. Open SSMS and connect to your SQL Server. 2. Right click Databases and select Restore Database. 3. Select […]
This script will delete rows within a table that are out-with the specified retention period. This can be useful if you’re running deletes on large tables, and particularly if; #- Deletes are taking a long time & you’re finding it difficult to track progress. #- You have a short maintenance window each day to perform […]
There’s often a need to quickly copy/paste a database query output into an Excel sheet, rather than exporting as a .csv file. When you do this for a DATETIME column though, it’ll show up in Excel looking something like this. I don’t think Excel likes the milliseconds. This is the data I tried to copy […]
The Stack Exchange Data Explorer is an amazing place where you’ll find all the data that is stored for those Q&A’s they’ve got going. The interesting stuff is down here though 😉 (number 24 in the list) You can view other folk’s queries on each database, as well as create a query of your own… […]
Something I learned today while looking at an old script. The script kills all SPIDs on a database. I had an instant urge to kill system SPIDs just to see what would happen. And the result was… That’s a good thing though right? One less thing to be worrying about. You can’t kill system SPIDs. […]
What’s the plan when you don’t know how to fix a production issue? You can prepare this situation by reading and keeping up to date. But when you’re sweating behind a keyboard, you haven’t moved out your chair for 4 hours and you’re being chased for an update, what do you do?... I thought I'd […]
