Author: Peter Whyte
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SQL Server: ALTER DATABASE SET ENABLE_BROKER Taking a Long Time (Fix)
After a recent Availability Group failover, Database Mail stopped sending emails. On investigation, the underlying cause was Service Broker not being enabled on msdb, the system database Database Mail runs out of. Enabling it should be instant. Instead the statement sat there, and this is what it was waiting on. To confirm the status, I…
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SQL Server: Ad hoc Update to System Catalogs is Not Supported (Fix)
While enabling show advanced options using sp_configure, I encountered an unexpected failure when executing RECONFIGURE: The change would not apply, and any further configuration attempts failed in the same way. This issue typically appears on systems where older configuration settings have been modified and never reset. In most cases, the root cause is the legacy…
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How to Kill a SPID in SQL Server
In SQL Server, every connection to the database engine is assigned a Session Process ID, commonly known as a SPID. There are situations where you may need to kill a SPID in SQL Server. This typically occurs when a session is blocking other queries, running indefinitely, holding locks during maintenance, or preventing a database from…
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How to Check Blocking SPIDs in SQL Server
Blocking is one of the most common causes of performance issues in SQL Server. When one session holds a lock on a resource and another session needs that same resource, the second session waits. If that wait persists, users experience slowness. Understanding how to quickly identify blocking SPIDs is a core DBA skill. This guide…
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Open SSMS as a Different Domain User
🛠️Part of the SSMS Complete Guide, installing, configuring and fixing SQL Server Management Studio. When working in corporate SQL Server environments, you will often need to connect using a different Active Directory domain account. Common reasons include: SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) does not allow switching users inside the connection dialog. To connect as another…
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Working with SQL Server Database Master Keys
SQL Server uses an encryption hierarchy to protect secrets such as credentials, asymmetric keys and certificates. At the database level, that hierarchy is anchored by the database master key (DMK). Because all other encrypted objects depend on it, losing access to the DMK can render those objects unusable. This post walks through how to: It…
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Check SQL Server Connection Encryption and Protocol
Modern SQL Server environments often use encrypted connections by default, but that does not always mean what people think it means. When troubleshooting connectivity problems, certificate errors, performance questions, or unexpected client behaviour, DBAs usually need to answer one very specific question: What protocol and encryption is this connection actually using right now? This post…
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How to Check SQL Server Version
Knowing exactly which SQL Server version and build is running is foundational DBA work. It comes up during patching, incident response, audits, upgrades, and when engaging Microsoft support. SQL Server exposes version information in several ways. Some are fast and visual, others are scriptable, and a few provide deeper installation detail when you need it.…
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sqlcmd Examples for SQL Server
No SSMS on the box, or SSMS will not connect, and you need to run a query or a script file from a shell right now. sqlcmd does that from Command Prompt, PowerShell or a Linux shell. On any current install it also refuses the first connection with a certificate error until you add -C,…
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Install and Update SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
🛠️Part of the SSMS Complete Guide, installing, configuring and fixing SQL Server Management Studio.In: Server & Configuration SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) is the primary management tool for SQL Server and Azure SQL. What changed in recent releases is not how it looks but how it installs, updates and connects: it ships through the Visual…
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- SQL Server Row-Level Security: The Filter Does Not Stop Cross-Tenant Writes
- View the Definition of a Stored Procedure in SQL Server
- TempDB Is Full or Still Growing: Find What Is Using It, Right Now
- SQL Server Service Will Not Start: Error 17113, 17058, 1067 and Where the Real Reason Is
- How to Move TempDB Files in SQL Server
- RAND() vs NEWID() in SQL Server
- Backups & Recovery (17)
- DBA Scripts (151)
- High Availability (HA) (12)
- Installation & Configuration (49)
- Maintenance (25)
- Migration & Upgrades (14)
- Monitoring (9)
- Performance Tuning (37)
- Security (Encryption & Permissions) (20)
- Storage & Capacity (16)
- T-SQL Fundamentals (15)
- Troubleshooting (94)
- Wait Types (235)