Author: Peter Whyte
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Compatibility Levels: What Actually Changes When You Bump It
“Bump the compatibility level after a migration” is standard advice, and Version Upgrade Readiness already tells you which databases are behind. What that advice usually skips is what the number actually controls, and one part of it is more counter-intuitive than most people assume. This post runs a real test on a lab database to…
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SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS): The Complete Guide
💾 Install & Update SSMS SSMS is no longer part of the SQL Server installer, and the update model changed. Where to actually get it and how updates work now. 👤 Open SSMS as a Different Domain User Testing permissions for a new AD login, or connecting under a service account, without logging into Windows…
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SQL Server Collation: Case Sensitivity and the Cross-Database Trap
Get Collation Conflicts and Cross-Database Dependencies finds real collation mismatches, but assumes you already know what collation actually controls. This post covers the fundamentals directly: what changes with collation, a real case-sensitivity test, and the cross-database trap that script exists to catch. What Collation Actually Controls Collation determines two things for character data: sort order…
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SQL Server Isolation Levels (and When to Reach for RCSI)
Reading and Fixing a SQL Server Deadlock and Troubleshoot SQL Server Blocking both point at isolation level as part of the fix without covering what the levels actually are. This post fills that gap: what each isolation level trades off, what Read Committed Snapshot Isolation (RCSI) actually changes, and a real check of where this…
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DBA Scripts: Get Database Summary
Part of the DBA-Tools Project. One Row Per Database, Every Issue Flagged in One Column Checking every database on an instance one at a time, state here, recovery model there, backup age in a third window, doesn’t scale, and it’s exactly the kind of routine check that gets skipped when things are busy. The gaps…
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DBA Scripts: Get Database Inventory
Part of the DBA-Tools Project. One Query, Every Database’s Migration Readiness Before you migrate, upgrade, or consolidate anything, you need one honest answer per database: is it actually online, what recovery model is it running, and is its compatibility level going to surprise you on the target server. Digging that out of SSMS one database…
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Instant File Initialization: What It Actually Does and How to Enable It
Instant File Initialization is one of the few SQL Server settings that’s genuinely free performance, no license cost, no downside for the overwhelming majority of installs, and it’s still routinely left unconfigured on real production servers because it’s a Windows privilege grant, not a SQL Server setting, and it happens outside SSMS entirely. This post…
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DBA Scripts: Pre-Install and Post-Install Checks for SQL Server
Part of the DBA-Tools Project. Bookend Checks for an Installation You Can Trust Two scripts, same shape (PASS / WARN / FAIL, a summary verdict), sitting on either side of an install: pre-install-check.ps1 confirms the machine is actually ready before you run setup, post-install-validation.ps1 confirms the instance is actually configured sensibly after you’re done. Neither…
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Disable Change Data Capture in SQL Server
Disabling Change Data Capture (CDC) is straightforward, but it has to happen in the right order: every tracked table first, then the database. Skip a step and SQL Server tells you plainly rather than doing it anyway, which is the safe behaviour but confusing the first time you hit it. This post covers disabling CDC…
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DBA Scripts: Generate Database Integrity and Housekeeping Jobs
Part of the DBA-Tools Project. A Readable Generator for Integrity Checks and msdb Housekeeping If you’re already running Ola Hallengren’s maintenance solution, this won’t replace it, but the approach here might still be useful: a small, readable T-SQL generator that builds a housekeeping job framework as plain sp_add_job / sp_add_jobstep DDL you can review line…
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Key Links
DBA Scripts: The Complete Guide
Query and Performance Tuning
High Availability
Security
Storage and Capacity
Installation and Patching
Backups and Recovery
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- DBA Scripts (147)
- High Availability (HA) (7)
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- Maintenance (4)
- Migration & Upgrades (1)
- Monitoring (6)
- Performance Tuning (5)
- Security (Encryption & Permissions) (3)
- T-SQL Fundamentals (11)
- Troubleshooting (23)
- Wait Types (235)
Latest Posts
- Compatibility Levels: What Actually Changes When You Bump It
- SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS): The Complete Guide
- SQL Server Collation: Case Sensitivity and the Cross-Database Trap
- SQL Server Isolation Levels (and When to Reach for RCSI)
- DBA Scripts: Get Database Summary
- DBA Scripts: Get Database Inventory
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