Ken Haff, Author at Virtual-DBA Remote DBA Services & Support - Certified Database Experts Remote Database Administration Thu, 13 Nov 2025 17:40:29 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://virtual-dba.com/wp-content/uploads/cropped-VirtualDBA-favicon-32x32.png Ken Haff, Author at Virtual-DBA Remote DBA Services & Support - Certified Database Experts 32 32 A DBA’s Warning: The Unseen Risks of Third-Party Database Backups https://virtual-dba.com/blog/dba-dangers-third-party-backups/ Tue, 21 Oct 2025 21:14:48 +0000 https://virtual-dba.com/?p=243418 SUMMARY: Database Administrators (DBAs) must acknowledge that relying on common third-party backup solutions severely compromises data integrity, point-in-time recovery (PITR) capabilities, and recovery objectives (RPO/RTO) due to fundamental flaws like resource contention and disruptive log handling. To maintain complete control and reliability, organizations must shift control of the core backup and restore process to the […]

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]]> How Can a DBA Use AI to Improve Their Efficiency? https://virtual-dba.com/blog/how-dba-use-ai-to-improve-efficiency/ Tue, 07 Oct 2025 14:24:00 +0000 https://virtual-dba.com/?p=243391 SUMMARY: An experienced SQL Server DBA can leverage an AI assistant as a co-pilot to significantly boost efficiency by offloading complex, messy, and time-consuming tasks, thereby acting as a powerful partner for advanced database administration. By partnering with AI to handle rote operations, DBAs are empowered to shift their focus to strategic elements, architectural decisions, […]

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]]> When Billions of Rows Bring SQL Server to Its Knees: A Query Tuning Detective Story https://virtual-dba.com/blog/when-billions-of-rows-bring-sql-server-to-its-knees-a-query-tuning-detective-story/ Wed, 02 Jul 2025 16:58:38 +0000 https://virtual-dba.com/?p=243097 SUMMARY: A database administrator faced a critical performance collapse during a multi-day data transfer of over 8.6 billion rows in SQL Server because the Query Optimizer, despite the presence of a clustered index, repeatedly forced an inefficient parallel Sort operation that overwhelmed tempdb, necessitating the unconventional removal of the standard ORDER BY clause to complete […]

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]]> The Billion-Row Scan: Why Your SQL Query for MAX Is Slow and How to Fix It https://virtual-dba.com/blog/billion-row-scan-why-sql-query-for-max-is-slow-and-how-to-fix-it/ Wed, 25 Jun 2025 15:38:00 +0000 https://virtual-dba.com/?p=243082 SUMMARY: Database professionals facing surprisingly slow SELECT MAX() queries on massive SQL Server tables can eliminate costly billion-row Clustered Index Scans by intentionally introducing a non-partitioned Non-Clustered Index to provide the query optimizer a globally sorted shortcut. Understanding deeper architectural features, such as how table partitioning affects a clustered index’s global sort order, is crucial […]

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]]> Understanding the EagerZero Format and Its Impact on SQL Server Performance https://virtual-dba.com/blog/understanding-eagerzero-sql-server-performance/ Tue, 10 Dec 2024 21:17:00 +0000 https://virtual-dba.com/?p=242730 EagerZero vs. Quick Format: A Comparison When it comes to formatting drives, there are different methods available, each with its own set of advantages and disadvantages. Two common methods are EagerZero and Quick Format. Here’s how they compare: EagerZero Format Quick Format EagerZero Formatting Process When you format a drive using the EagerZero method, the […]

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]]> Optimizing SQL Server Network Packet Size for Performance https://virtual-dba.com/blog/optimizing-sql-server-network-packet-size-for-performance/ https://virtual-dba.com/blog/optimizing-sql-server-network-packet-size-for-performance/#respond Tue, 24 Sep 2024 15:20:00 +0000 https://virtual-dba.com/?p=242572 In SQL Server, the network packet size setting plays a crucial role in determining the data transfer efficiency between the server and clients. This deep dive explores the technical aspects of configuring the network packet size, including how TDS packets are wrapped in IP packets, the impact of MTU on the TDS packets, and the […]

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]]> https://virtual-dba.com/blog/optimizing-sql-server-network-packet-size-for-performance/feed/ 0 How to Move to the Cloud Without a Plan (and Why You Shouldn’t) https://virtual-dba.com/blog/how-to-move-to-the-cloud-without-a-plan/ https://virtual-dba.com/blog/how-to-move-to-the-cloud-without-a-plan/#respond Tue, 26 Dec 2023 19:13:33 +0000 https://virtual-dba.com/?p=242052 In this blog post, I will tell you the hilarious story of how XYZ Inc. moved to the cloud without a plan and how it backfired spectacularly. I will also share some tips to avoid making the same mistakes and get the most out of the cloud if you decide to go for it. But […]

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]]> https://virtual-dba.com/blog/how-to-move-to-the-cloud-without-a-plan/feed/ 0 How to Use HierarchyID Data Type in SQL Server https://virtual-dba.com/blog/how-to-use-hierarchyid-data-type-in-sql-server/ https://virtual-dba.com/blog/how-to-use-hierarchyid-data-type-in-sql-server/#respond Tue, 27 Jun 2023 21:20:09 +0000 https://virtual-dba.com/?p=241741 What is the HierarchyID Data Type? Hierarchical data is a common type of data that represents the relationships between entities in a tree-like structure. For example, you may have hierarchical data for your organizational structure, where each employee has a manager and a department; or for your file system, where each folder can contain subfolders […]

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]]> https://virtual-dba.com/blog/how-to-use-hierarchyid-data-type-in-sql-server/feed/ 0 When to Use Columnstore Indexes and When Not to Use Them https://virtual-dba.com/blog/when-to-use-columnstore-indexes-and-when-not-to-use-them/ https://virtual-dba.com/blog/when-to-use-columnstore-indexes-and-when-not-to-use-them/#respond Tue, 20 Jun 2023 22:09:03 +0000 https://virtual-dba.com/?p=241682 What Are Columnstore Indexes? A columnstore index is a type of index that organizes data by columns instead of rows. This means that each table column is stored separately, and each value in a column is stored next to other values from the same column. This has several advantages for analytical queries, such as: There […]

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]]> https://virtual-dba.com/blog/when-to-use-columnstore-indexes-and-when-not-to-use-them/feed/ 0 Indexing for Group By and Order By in SQL Server https://virtual-dba.com/blog/indexing-for-group-by-and-order-by-in-sql-server/ https://virtual-dba.com/blog/indexing-for-group-by-and-order-by-in-sql-server/#respond Tue, 06 Jun 2023 15:38:27 +0000 https://virtual-dba.com/?p=241594 What is Indexing? Indexing is a technique to optimize the selection and sorting of data in a database. An index is a data structure that stores a subset of columns from a table or a view, along with pointers to the corresponding rows. The database can use an index to quickly locate and retrieve the […]

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