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Not knowing what tools are available There are several tools that come with SQL Server that can be used for backup processing, such as SQL Server...

Inconsistent backup plans While it is hard enough to manage SQL Server, you find that having inconsistent backup plans from server to server will...

Writing directly to tape A lot of third–party backup tools have agents that allow you to write directly to tape. This was great in the old days when...

Not understanding options Another big problem is people not being aware of the different options that are available using T-SQL commands and using...

Testing Not using restore verify option The last thing you want is to discover that your backup is not good when trying to restore it. A restore...

Writing and tuning SQL code are two different things. There are many ways to write code so that it does the intended function. But there are also...

There are several things that could cause performance issues for a query. You can identify these by breaking down the processing time for a query...

There are many things that can cause slowdowns in SQL Server, such as resources like disk, memory, and network. But the one place where database...

Deadlocking is a common problem that can occur in an SQL Server database. This is like blocking. But instead of being blocked forever, SQL Server...

Blocking is a normal activity that occurs in SQL Server and it does that to control data integrity and make sure only one resource can change a set...

There are many advantages of using SQL Diagnostic Manager over building your own tools and one of these is the enterprise management view of all...

As a database administrator, monitoring database systems for performance, corruption, and data issues is an ongoing task. It is also an overwhelming...

Development is a big undertaking and most of the time it focuses on making sure all the features are in place and working. Once this is done, tuning...

One can improve how secure databases are. However, that often degrades how well the database performs. The cost increases to improve database...

Stricter governmental and industry regulation coupled with the need for improving how secure the sensitive corporate data is has driven up the need...

It is easy and all too common to see the auditing team as adversaries. All the information they want takes time to gather. All the rules and...

In the current IT landscape, we face meeting an ever-increasing number of laws, regulations, and industry standards. The good news is that most of...

Not protecting physical backups You should think about the value of the data or the consequences of it getting into the wrong hands since a full...

To understand how malicious actors can infiltrate SQL Server is the key to understanding how to prevent intrusions. The consequences for inadequate...

There are several examples where data theft has brought organizations to a halt or resulted in a bad press that will leave a tarnished image. For...

Today, business is about data. Database systems and the elements they store are the most valuable assets in any enterprise. Not only are business...

Not understanding recovery needs The whole point of creating backups is to retrieve data in case data is lost or there is a failure. But to set up...

Werner Enterprises is a transportation and logistics leader with more than 8,000 trucks, 24,000 trailers and nearly 13,000 employees. Today, 65...

Keep sensitive and mission-critical data safe by performing regular backups of all important databases. Identify any non-backed up databases....

Cardinality is a term from set theory that deals with the size of a set. Data cardinality can affect query plans and performance. Minimize the...