Turn on Instant File Initialization for SQL Server Performance

Without Instant File Initialization turned on, each time a data file on SQL Server 2005 and above is created or has to grow in size, the file or portion of the file added must be zeroed out.  Depending on the size of the file this can be a very time consuming task. By turning on […]

SQL Server – Cannot resolve collation conflict

A friend of mine contacted me through email today having a very common problem with a query he had written.  He received an error, “cannot resolve collation conflict for equal to operator”. Early in my career I had experienced the same issue so I quickly searched my code snippets and found where I had used […]

How to restore the tail end of a transaction log

Have you ever tried to restore a backup over an existing database and receive an error stating the tail of the log for the database has not been backed up? Many times if you are just restoring a database into a development environment you don’t care so you just restore WITH REPLACE and move on. […]

It was time for an upgrade

I am not one of these anti PC sorta guys, but I do love my MacBook Pro.  I have owned a PC since 1993 when I got my Packard Bell 386 with Windows 3.1.  Even with my MacBook I have 9 Windows flavored VM’s on it.  To be honest, I have never had Windows run […]

Becoming the dumbest guy in the group

“Why I joined Linchpin People as a Teammate” It was announced publicly this past weekend at SQL Saturday #111 that I have joined Linchpin People as their first teammate.  My friend Andy who is also a Chief Servant Officer of Linchpin made the announcement during the speaker dinner and gave me an official Linchpin dress […]