Jay's Blog

[coding, debugging, and troubleshooting with Microsoft Technologies]

Orphaned Locks - Idle Session - and XACT_ABORT

Sometimes you might see a situation where a session is holding locks, blocking other sessions for an...

Author: jamesask Date: 10/08/2012

Sequence Objects in SQL 2012 and SQL 2008

  Sequence Objects are new starting in SQL Server 2012.  They work similarly to an...

Author: jamesask Date: 10/08/2012

If a worker thread doesn’t yield, is it guaranteed to run?

Put another way, can Windows preempt our worker thread and perform a context switch even though it...

Author: jamesask Date: 07/29/2012

Do waiting or suspended tasks tie up a worker thread?

I had a discussion the other day with someone about worker threads and their relation to tasks. I...

Author: jamesask Date: 07/29/2012

Finding Missing Dependencies

  While working with a customer on a SQL port, I came across a system view that was new with...

Author: jamesask Date: 07/22/2012

Loading data with foreign keys

  Working on a customer project the other day, I needed to load some data into a database that...

Author: jamesask Date: 07/15/2012

Need to find the Database Version? Last Log Backup? Last DBCC execution? Ummm….

Backup software and Maintenance plans usually take care of tracking backup schedules and maintenance...

Author: jamesask Date: 07/08/2012

Default Trace and System Health

So it’s been a little while since my last posting – actually a long while.  Since my last post...

Author: jamesask Date: 06/28/2012

How can I get a list of installed SQL Server instances?

Today we’ll talk about how we can get a list of locally installed SQL Server instances on a...

Author: jamesask Date: 10/11/2011

Searching through the SQL Server Errorlogs

Sorry – It’s been a while since my last post.  The past few months have been very busy for...

Author: jamesask Date: 10/10/2011

Have you checked out Denali? CTP 3 is here…

Did you know that CTP3 for ‘Denali’ or SQL Server Version 11 is out?  You can download it for...

Author: jamesask Date: 08/02/2011

Troubleshooting Slow Disk I/O in SQL Server

If you suspect you are experiencing poor disk performance you can use internal DMVs combined with a...

Author: jamesask Date: 07/08/2011

Using Windows 2008 R2 as a workstation (and a lab)

Lately there seems to be an increasing number of people that want to run Windows 2008 R2 Server as...

Author: jamesask Date: 03/26/2011

Proper I/O Capacity Planning and Configuration Resources for SQL Server

To understand and perform proper IO Capacity Planning for SQL Server, you must understand the IO...

Author: jamesask Date: 03/25/2011

Why is using “Instant File Initialization” on my SQL Server a potential security issue?

Starting in SQL Server 2005 and onward, data files can be “instantly” initialized.  This helps...

Author: jamesask Date: 03/11/2011

Required rights for SQL Server service account

This topic comes up from time to time in my daily support work, so I thought I would make a quick...

Author: jamesask Date: 02/28/2011

Finding which queries were executing from a SQL Memory Dump – revisited

A message about the previous post on finding queries in a SQL Memory Dump file: Back in October I...

Author: jamesask Date: 02/18/2011

Uninstalling a SQL Server Service Pack

Did you know that starting with service packs (Service Pack 1) in SQL Server 2008 you can uninstall...

Author: jamesask Date: 02/07/2011

Using DBCC PAGE

DBCC PAGE is an undocumented – and unsupported – DBCC statement in SQL Server for dumping the raw...

Author: jamesask Date: 02/05/2011

How does SQL Server perform deletes in my table?

In this post we’ll look at how SQL Server deletes records in a table.  In this example, we’ll...

Author: jamesask Date: 01/28/2011

Why do we need trace flag 3604 for DBCC statements?

For many DBCC statements, we need to enable trace flag 3604 before executing the DBCC command. ...

Author: jamesask Date: 01/21/2011

What is a slot array?

What is a slot array?  Though it sounds like a line of gambling machines at the nearest casino,...

Author: jamesask Date: 01/07/2011

How do I find what queries were executing in a SQL memory dump?

NOTE:  This post has been updated in a new post due to an issue found with the steps in this...

Author: jamesask Date: 10/03/2010

Catching who dropped SQL Server logins

I recently had a situation where SQL server logins were getting deleted from the system and nobody...

Author: jamesask Date: 10/01/2010

The parameters of xp_readerrorlog

  I find that few people know xp_readerrorlog accepts parameters to help you mine information...

Author: jamesask Date: 09/19/2010

How do I track this in my Stored Procedure? (Using a custom trace event)

  It’s been a while since I’ve posted an entry as I’ve been busy with moving to a different...

Author: jamesask Date: 09/10/2010

Cool Windows 7 Feature…

I’d have to say that one of my favorite new features from Windows 7 – that doesn’t...

Author: jamesask Date: 04/28/2010

Creating a custom performance monitor counter for SQL Server

If you have ever needed to monitor a value in SQL Server, or follow the trend of anything that can...

Author: jamesask Date: 02/18/2010

How do I set a breakpoint in a CLR Stored Procedure already deployed and running on a live SQL Server and debug is using Visual Studio?

For information on setup and debugging a CLR stored procedure in a direct-debug scenario by...

Author: jamesask Date: 02/07/2010

How can I create a dump of SQL Server?

You can create a memory dump of the SQL Server process space in several ways. There are many...

Author: jamesask Date: 02/05/2010

What do I need to know to be good at debugging?

From time to time I will get this question from people learning to debug application code. Debugging...

Author: jamesask Date: 02/03/2010

Basic Debugging Concepts and Setup - Part 2 (Basic & Common Commands)

So if you read my previous post on Basic Debugging Concepts and Setup, you are familiar with how to...

Author: jamesask Date: 02/01/2010

Windows 7 God Mode

Was browsing through my RSS feeds today and saw this on Channel 9:...

Author: jamesask Date: 01/19/2010

Basic Debugging Concepts and Setup

In my blog, from time to time I will rely on debugging to explain or prove out a concept. In this...

Author: jamesask Date: 12/29/2009

Hello World

Welcome to my MSDN blog. I am excited at the prospect of contributing to the MSDN community and...

Author: jamesask Date: 10/05/2009

Test entry

This is a test entry to make sure Live Writer is working – please ignore

Author: jamesask Date: 10/03/2009