Thomas LaRock

Databases 101 – Factors to Consider When Choosing a Database

09/06/18 In part one of this series, we discussed the different types of databases available on the market today. In part two, we discussed how to choose the right database for you…

Databases 101: Choosing the Right Database

08/20/18 In my last post, we talked about the different types of databases available on the market for you to choose from. With over 300 options, it is hard to know which one is th…

Five Common Problems with SQL Server

07/12/18 I am fortunate that I still work with SQL Server daily, and consulted from time to time on various projects and performance troubleshooting. It helps keep my skills sharp.…

Six Ways to Protect your Database Backups

06/15/18 I often see forum posts from accidental administrators who want to know how to recover data without a backup. The short answer is, “Now is a good time to work on your resu…

Be Responsive and Responsible

06/13/18 Over the years, I’ve read more than a few articles about the qualities that are found in the best administrators. These articles focus on soft skills, but sometimes will l…

The Future Isn’t in Databases, But in the Data

06/11/18 In the past year I have earned a couple of certificates from the Microsoft Professional Program. One certificate was in Data Science, the other in Big Data. I’m currently …

Collecting and Alerting on Deadlocks for SQL Server

12/07/16 SolarWinds DPA can collect a count of the number of deadlocks to be displayed as a resource graph. For Ignite versions prior to 8.2, you can update two files in order to s…

Why DPA Uses SQL Server Trace Flag 2861 and Zero Cost Plans

12/07/16 About zero cost plans in SQL Server OK, first thing first, what is a “zero cost plan” in SQL Server? I did some digging around and found the following links, which I would…

Using VSAN to Maximize Database Performance

09/28/15 Every database administrator knows that they get paid for performance, but keep their jobs with recovery. Failing to make a query run faster will not get you fired as fast…

Learning to Pivot

09/18/15 Industries as a whole tend to resist change. This makes sense because industries are made of corporations, those corporations are made of people, and people tend to resist…

VMDK versus RDM: Which One Do I Need for SQL Server?

03/26/14 When it comes to disk configuration options for virtualized servers running on VMware, you have two options: VMFS virtual file-based disk (VMDK) or a raw device mapping (R…

Hardware or Code? SQL Server Performance Examined

01/24/14 As DBAs with years of experience in a variety of environment between us, we each have seen that most database performance issues result not from lack of enough CPU power o…