Tag: Database Admin

Database Admin Blog Archives: Includes practical guides, troubleshooting strategies, and best practices, written by an experienced Microsoft SQL Server DBA.


  • Keeping SQL Server and Critical Systems Up to Date

    Applying the latest patches to SQL Server, Windows OS, and underlying hardware is a vital part of maintaining secure, high-performing systems. For many organizations, this is done on a regular schedule—monthly, quarterly, or aligned with specific maintenance windows. However, for business-critical, 24/7 systems, patching takes extra planning and…

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  • How to Open SSMS as a Different Domain User

    If you’re working with SQL Server in a corporate environment, you might need to connect to the server using a different Domain User account, opening SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) as a another user. This may be required if your computer is joined to a different Domain than…

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  • Troubleshooting Database Mirroring Issues in SQL Server

    This article contains various ways for resolving database Mirroring issues in SQL Server, guiding you through the troubleshooting process. Maintaining high availability and data integrity in a SQL Server environment is one of the main priorities as a SQL DBA. One issue we may encounter is Mirrored databases…

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  • How to Kill SPIDs in SQL Server

    In SQL Server, Session Process IDs (SPIDs) play a crucial role in identifying and managing SQL connections. The KILL (SPID) command serves as a tool for terminating troublesome sessions. This blog post provides an overview of the KILL command and its practical applications. The following is included in…

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  • How to Check Your SQL Server Version

    This post contains various ways for how to check the running Microsoft SQL Server version numbers, including: – Check SQL Version in SSMS Object Explorer – SQL Query to get SQL Version Info – Check SQL Server Log Files– Run the SQL Server Feature Discovery Report Why Check…

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  • How to Add Columns to Tables in SQL Server

    This post contains a guide on how to add columns to tables in SQL Server, with tips and links to Microsoft Documentation along the way. As a SQL Server DBA, adding new columns to tables is a routine and simple task, often driven by evolving business requirements or…

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  • Add a Filegroup to a Database in SQL Server

    This post contains a demo on how to add a new Filegroup for a database in SQL Server. Most databases work well with single data/log files and do not need this. Adding filegroups to a SQL Server database can improve performance by distributing data across multiple disk drives…

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  • Disabling Change Data Capture in SQL Server

    This post contains a demo on how to disable CDC (Change Data Capture) in SQL Server 2022. The sp_cdc_disable_table and sp_cdc_disable_db in-built MSSQL SPs are what we should use to disable CDC in SQL Server which is explained more below. The sp_cdc_disable_table and sp_cdc_disable_db are the in-built MSSQL…

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  • How to Enable CDC in SQL Server

    This is a post on how to enable Change Data Capture (CDC) in SQL Server. Enabling this on a database and table will allow the recording of activity when tables and rows have been modified. This is a feature available for us to configure within SQL Server and…

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