Did you ever face any situation where your SQL Server completely stuck in the middle? The CPU rocketed to the sky and SSMS not responding. You cannot execute any query. What did you do to overcome this critical moment? Did you restart the SQL Server? You are not alone. Many DBAs unaware that there is a lifeline in this scenario and they could still access to their SQL Servers. In this article, we will walk through how to enable, configure and access of this lifeline. Let's start.
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As DBAs, we all know how frustrating deadlocks can be. One moment everything looks fine, and the next, SQL Server decides to kill a perfectly good query just to break the deadlock cycle. Hunting down the cause often means digging through error logs, setting up Extended Events, and piecing together XML deadlock graphs that feel more like puzzles than solutions.
That is where sp_BlitzLock comes to the rescue. It takes the pain out of deadlock analysis by reading deadlock graphs for you and turning them into a clear, easy-to-understand report. Instead of spending hours trying to figure out who blocked whom, you get a straightforward breakdown of the queries, resources, and victims involved. In short, sp_BlitzLock makes a DBA’s life much easier when dealing with deadlocks.
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In [Part 1] of this series, we explored the locking and blocking of SQL Server — what they are, why they occur, and their detection and prevention mechanism. In Part 2, we will focus on how DBAs can detect, analyze, and resolve deadlock scenarios in real-world workloads. You will learn how to leverage SQL Server’s built-in tools, interpret key system views, capture deadlock graphs, and apply strategies to minimize performance impact. Along the way, we will also discuss best practices and preventive measures to help ensure smooth concurrency handling in your databases.
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In the world of SQL Server, ensuring data consistency, and concurrency is critical — but it often comes with challenges like locking, blocking and deadlocking. These negatively impact on performance. As databases grow in size and usage, understanding how SQL Server handles concurrent data access becomes essential for any DBA.
In this first part of the series, we will dive deep into the core concepts of locks and blocks, explore how they work, and examine why they occur. Through real-world examples and practical scripts, this article aims to equip you with the knowledge to identify, analyze, and handle common blocking scenarios. Mastering these fundamentals will prepare you for the more complex topic of deadlocks, which we will cover in Part 2.
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In the ever-evolving world of database administration, visibility is power. Understanding what is happening inside SQL Server is crucial for diagnosing problems, optimizing performance, and ensuring stability. That is where Extended Events come in. Extended Events is a lightweight and highly customizable replacement of SQL Trace and Profiler which offer deep insights into SQL Server’s internal behavior without imposing significant overhead. These make Extended Events a perfect choice for troubleshooting deadlocks, monitoring long-running queries, analyzing I/O bottlenecks, trace, filter, and respond to specific database events with precision.
In this guide, we will walk through how to set up Extended Events in SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS), explain the key configuration options, and explore real-world use cases that make Extended Events an essential tool in every DBA’s toolbox.
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Recently, Mark Varnas posted a client's experience in his LinkedIn profile. The client has 16 core virtual processors however, SQL Server was using only 4 cores and performance was terrible. My favorite SQL Server expert Brent Ozar also commented and shared his relevant blog's link in the post. I was curious how Mark Varnas identified and resolved this. Robert Concepcion's comments and Brent's blog showed me the path. Let's go through the problem!
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In the world of SQL Server performance tuning, intuition is helpful—but data is essential. Without a solid performance baseline, DBAs are left guessing whether a system slowdown is an anomaly or just another busy working day. Creating a baseline gives you a point of comparison to understand what "normal" looks like for your SQL Server environment. This article will guide you through what to capture, how to capture it, and how to turn that information into actionable insight—so the next time someone says, "the database is slow", you will have data to prove or disprove it.
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In today’s data-driven environments, SQL Server performance is not just about fast queries, efficient indexes — it also heavily depends on how well your database communicates over the network. Whether it is a slow application response, timeout errors, or replication delays, the network often plays an invisible but critical role. As DBAs, we tend to focus on CPU, memory, and disk — yet overlooking network performance can leave significant bottlenecks unresolved.
This guide will walk you through essential network-related metrics, troubleshooting techniques, and tuning tips to ensure your SQL Server operates smoothly. Let’s decode what is happening between your servers — and keep the data flowing efficiently.
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CPU performance plays a critical role in the responsiveness and scalability of SQL Server. When CPU resources are overwhelmed, even well-optimized queries and tuned indexes may not deliver expected performance. Understanding how SQL Server utilizes CPU, identifying bottlenecks, and analyzing workload patterns are essential tasks for any DBA aiming to maintain a high-performing environment.
This guide walks you through the fundamentals of CPU behavior in SQL Server, the key metrics to monitor, common causes of CPU pressure, and practical strategies for diagnosing and resolving CPU-related issues.
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When it comes to SQL Server performance, disk I/O is often one of the most critical and overlooked components. While CPU and memory get much of the spotlight, the underlying storage subsystem plays a foundational role in how efficiently SQL Server can read and write data. Slow or misconfigured disk I/O can lead to query bottlenecks, long transaction times, and degraded user experience—especially under heavy workloads.
This guide helps DBAs understand how SQL Server interacts with storage, how to monitor disk I/O, and how to optimize it for better performance. From key metrics to practical tuning tips, you will gain the insights needed to keep your SQL Server running smoothly at the storage layer.
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