Faryl O'Neil, Author at Virtual-DBA Remote DBA Services & Support - Certified Database Experts Remote Database Administration Tue, 28 Oct 2025 22:24:08 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://virtual-dba.com/wp-content/uploads/cropped-VirtualDBA-favicon-32x32.png Faryl O'Neil, Author at Virtual-DBA Remote DBA Services & Support - Certified Database Experts 32 32 Foundations of Disaster Recovery Planning (Part 3) https://virtual-dba.com/blog/foundations-of-disaster-recovery-3/ Thu, 23 Oct 2025 21:25:12 +0000 https://virtual-dba.com/?p=243443 SUMMARY: Effective Disaster Recovery (DR) planning requires the dedicated team to follow specific, sequential instructions that detail exactly how recovery will unfold, while regularly reviewing and testing the procedure to ensure organizational readiness for any crisis scenario. Remember that Recovery Time Objectives (RTO) and Recovery Point Objectives (RPO) establish minimum recovery standards, meaning teams should […]

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]]> Foundations of IT Disaster Recovery Planning (Part 2) https://virtual-dba.com/blog/foundations-of-disaster-recovery-2/ Thu, 16 Oct 2025 18:08:00 +0000 https://virtual-dba.com/?p=243405 SUMMARY: Robust IT disaster recovery planning requires organizations to meticulously define both the essential human stakeholders—including a multi-role disaster recovery team—and the detailed physical and virtual locations of all application infrastructure to ensure swift recovery and meet established RTO and RPO metrics. Thorough preparation regarding personnel responsibilities and precise infrastructure documentation ensures the business can […]

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]]> Foundations of IT Disaster Recovery Planning (Part 1) https://virtual-dba.com/blog/foundations-of-disaster-recovery-1/ Thu, 09 Oct 2025 21:50:41 +0000 https://virtual-dba.com/?p=243396 Summary Organizations must create a solid IT disaster recovery (DR) plan by firmly establishing the plan’s scope and setting clear Recovery Time Objectives (RTO) and Recovery Point Objectives (RPO). This ensures preparedness for system failures ranging from major storms and ransomware to human errors. Establishing these foundational objectives is crucial for aligning recovery procedures with […]

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]]> Understanding and Preventing SQL Server Deadlocks https://virtual-dba.com/blog/understanding-and-preventing-sql-server-deadlocks/ https://virtual-dba.com/blog/understanding-and-preventing-sql-server-deadlocks/#respond Thu, 27 Jun 2024 22:59:11 +0000 https://virtual-dba.com/?p=242331 SQL server deadlock is a common issue that database administrators often encounter, causing significant disruptions in database operations. This article aims to demystify the concept of SQL server deadlocks, particularly focusing on the nuances between traditional deadlocks and parallelism deadlocks. By understanding their causes and learning how to identify and prevent them, you can maintain […]

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]]> https://virtual-dba.com/blog/understanding-and-preventing-sql-server-deadlocks/feed/ 0 Page Splits and How to Optimize Index Space in SQL Server https://virtual-dba.com/blog/sql-server/page-splits-and-how-to-optimize-index-space/ https://virtual-dba.com/blog/sql-server/page-splits-and-how-to-optimize-index-space/#respond Mon, 21 Nov 2022 21:28:28 +0000 https://virtual-dba.com/?p=240988 If you’re noticing a significant drop in performance, as well as frequent index fragmentation, you might have an issue with page splits, especially if your fill factor is set to default on all of your indexes. What Are Page Splits? Page splits occur when there is insufficient free space on a data page to insert […]

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]]> https://virtual-dba.com/blog/sql-server/page-splits-and-how-to-optimize-index-space/feed/ 0 Using Replication Monitor in Legacy (Pre-2016) SQL Server Management Studio https://virtual-dba.com/blog/using-replication-monitor-in-legacy-pre-2016-sql-server-management-studio/ https://virtual-dba.com/blog/using-replication-monitor-in-legacy-pre-2016-sql-server-management-studio/#respond Wed, 09 Nov 2022 17:02:00 +0000 https://virtual-dba.com/?p=240973 Is SQL 2016 older than SQL 2005? Or is your outdated SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) lying to you? Sometimes, the most interesting discoveries come from being lazy. Case in point: I was working with a few other DBAs on a client system having issues with replication. Being that I was the only one among […]

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]]> https://virtual-dba.com/blog/using-replication-monitor-in-legacy-pre-2016-sql-server-management-studio/feed/ 0 Explaining Database Normalization Like You’re Five https://virtual-dba.com/blog/explaining-database-normalization-like-youre-five/ https://virtual-dba.com/blog/explaining-database-normalization-like-youre-five/#respond Fri, 23 Jul 2021 21:29:16 +0000 https://virtual-dba.com/?p=238474 Normalization is not that complicated. In fact, the beauty of these rules is that you may not know you’re already applying them in your database design. To demonstrate, over the course of this multi-part series, we’ll be covering the three generally accepted levels of normalization (first, second, and third normal form), followed by Boyce-Codd through […]

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]]> https://virtual-dba.com/blog/explaining-database-normalization-like-youre-five/feed/ 0 Scripting Basic Backups using SQL Server Agent https://virtual-dba.com/blog/scripting-basic-backups-using-sql-server-agent/ https://virtual-dba.com/blog/scripting-basic-backups-using-sql-server-agent/#respond Tue, 13 Jul 2021 18:14:36 +0000 https://virtual-dba.com/?p=238469 The most satisfying meal is the one you make yourself, and database backup jobs are no different. Many DBAs use maintenance plans as a “one-stop-shop” for maintaining their SQL Server databases. After all, they do backups, integrity checks, index maintenance… What more could you possibly want? But the truth of the matter is that maintenance […]

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