• Guide for Setting Up Windows Server Core

    When you need to setup Windows Server Core, it’s useful to first familiarize ourselves with the key PowerShell commands that configure the server. Windows Server Core is a minimal installation option that provides a lightweight, command-line interface (CLI)-only environment, making it ideal for environments requiring lower resource usage…

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  • Joining a Windows Host to a Domain

    This post contains a demo of joining a Windows Server onto a test Domain, which I created in my previous post (Installing Active Directory on Windows Server 2016). Joining a Windows Computer to Active Directory Domain Services is required in 99% of Corporate environments, and is usually a…

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  • Installing Active Directory on Windows Server 2016

    This post contains a demo installation of Active Directory Domain Services on Windows Server 2016. It follows a previous post for a series of test lab configuration posts. Microsoft docs on installing AD on Windows Server can be found here: Install Active Directory Domain Services Configuring a Windows…

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  • Installing Windows Server 2016 with Hyper-V

    This post contains a demo of installing the Windows Server 2016 Operating System on Hyper-V. To install the Hyper-V Role on Windows 10, see this guide from Microsoft Docs: Install Hyper-V on Windows 10. There are two parts to this one:> Create a new Hyper-V Virtual Machine> Install…

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  • Resolving “Windows could not start the SQL Server”

    If you encounter the message “Windows could not start the SQL Server on 127.0.0.1”, it signifies a problem preventing the SQL Server service from starting properly. This error is broad and can stem from various causes. Diagnosing the Issue To uncover the root cause, we can check Windows…

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  • Resolving “Index was out of range” in SSMS

    This post is here to help if you’ve encountered the following error while performing a task in SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS): Index was out of range. Must be non-negative and less than the size of the collection. Parameter name: index (mscorlib) In my experience, I’ve seen this…

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  • “Content from the website listed below is being blocked” on Windows Server

    When managing a Windows Server, you may encounter the message:“Content from the website listed below is being blocked by the Internet Explorer Enhanced Security Configuration.” This occurs because Internet Explorer Enhanced Security Configuration (IE ESC) is enabled by default on Windows Server to protect against malicious websites and…

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  • Creating a Linked Server for a PostgreSQL Database

    This is a post on how to create a Linked Server to a PostgreSQL database. In my previous post, I created a Linked Server to another SQL Server instance. This time, it’s a link to a Postgres database. I recommend checking out my other post for pre-requisite information…

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  • Creating a Linked Server to SQL Server

    Linked Servers in SQL Server allow you to query external databases, such as remote SQL Server instances, Oracle, ODBC or MS Access databases. It provides easy query access to another database server for users, however it’s not the most efficient ways to do it. The following steps should…

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  • Database Growth Events in SQL Server

    When a database file reaches its maximum allocated size, a growth event is triggered to expand the file and allow for more data storage. The size of these growth events can be configured in the database options or by using the ALTER DATABASE statement, as demonstrated below. Properly…

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Useful SQL DBA Posts

Performance & High Availability
– Get Full SQL Server System Info Fast
– Quick Performance Troubleshooting Scripts
Identify Missing & Unused Indexes
– Get Wait Stats & Top Consuming Queries
Get Exclusive Locks on Tables
Get Always On Availability Group (AAG) Latency
Get Mirroring Status & Latency
Get Replication Latency
Get Last Node Blip in SQL Server FCI
Security & Maintenance
Get Estimated Database Backup/Restore Time
Get Last Database Backup Dates/Times
– Get Database Sizes & Space Used
How to Get Table Sizes
Get Index & Heap Fragmentation Levels
Get SQL User Permissions and Roles
Creating SQL Users on Availability Groups
– Audit Failed Login Attempts

Tags

Always On Availability Groups (AAG) (4) Certificates & Encryption (3) Change Data Capture (CDC) (2) Database Admin (76) Database Backups & Recovery (14) Database Mirroring (2) Deleting Data (1) Error Messages (5) Git Commands (5) Importing & Exporting Data (2) Linked Servers (3) Linux Admin (2) Logging & Monitoring (1) Measuring Databases (10) Microsoft Patching (2) PowerShell Scripts (1) SQL Server Agent (5) SQL Server Database Files (1) SQL Server Data Types (2) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) (15) SQL Server Network Connectivity (3) SQL Server on Linux (1) SQL Server Patching (2) SQL Server Performance (5) SQL Server Permissions (2) SQL Server Processes (5) SQL Server Replication (2) SQL Server Scripts (13) Windows Admin (21) Windows Authentication (2) Windows Automation (1) Windows Events (2) Windows Firewall (4) Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) (19)