How Row Goal shapes your SQL Server query strategy by hunting for pierogis
Mastering SQL Server Row Goals and how TOP, EXISTS, and FAST N influence execution plans and how to avoid performance traps in your queries
Database
Everything our consultants learn while running databases for customers: Oracle, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, MySQL, MariaDB, MongoDB and Delphix. Expect hands-on posts about installation, day-to-day administration, backup and recovery, performance tuning, replication and upgrades.
SQL Server Snapshot Backup and Restore with Proxmox ZFS – REST API with SQL Server 2025 (3/4)
The proposed architecture consists in adding a small internal REST API on the Proxmox server in order to expose a controlled ZFS snapshot operation. SQL Server 2025 can then call this API through sp_invoke_external_rest_endpoint, instead of running SSH commands directly or relying on an external tool. The role of the API is deliberately limited: it receives a snapshot request, checks…
SQL Server Snapshot Backup and Restore with Proxmox ZFS – Powershell implementation (2/4)
In the previous section, we discussed the drawbacks of running the commands manually. Indeed, the manual process was taking too much time and could directly impact the database state while the freeze was occurring. To address this issue, it is possible to automate the solution with PowerShell. The idea is to automate the different operations involved in the snapshot backup…
SQL Server Snapshot Backup and Restore with Proxmox ZFS (1/4)
We are currently working with clients on migrations to SQL Server 2022 and SQL Server 2025. During a discussion with one client, we reviewed some of the benefits introduced in the latest SQL Server 2022 and 2025 releases. Among the available features, starting with SQL Server 2022, we have: Starting with SQL Server 2025: The customer’s environment consists of a…
When a Python driver configuration issue may cause blocking in SQL Server
One of our clients encountered blocking during their daily data load. The process loads several million rows and then performs an ALTER TABLE … SWITCH operation into a partitioned table. This operation usually takes some time, but in this case it became blocked. Context Initially, I did not have access to much information. The only element I received from the…
A Misleading SSAS Error in Power BI Report Server When Using DirectQuery Mode
Our client was experiencing issues after publishing a report that used Direct Query mode. Specifically, when the report was queried, the following error occurred: Error : We couldn’t connect to the Analysis Services server. Make sure you’ve entered the connection string correctly. However, this issue did not occur in Power BI Desktop. In Power BI, several data loading modes are…
SQLDay 2026 Workshops Overview
SQLDay 2026 offers a full-day workshop program on 11 May 2026, before the main conference scheduled for 12–13 May 2026 in Wrocław, with onsite and online participation options depending on the session. The workshops cover several areas of the modern data platform: advanced BI, AI and MLOps, SQL performance tuning, PostgreSQL adoption, and Microsoft Fabric automation. DAX – Beyond the…
PostgreSQL 19: Dynamically adjust the I/O worker pool
When PostgreSQL 18 was released last year one of the major features was the introduction of the asynchronous I/O subsystem. The main configuration parameter for this was (and still is) io_method, which can be “worker” (the default), io_uring or sync (the old behavior). If you opted for “workers” the number of those workers is controlled by “io_workers” and the default…
Increase GoldenGate 26ai log retention
GoldenGate logs are a powerful source of information when debugging or analyzing your deployments. However, some of these logs have a rather low retention period in active deployments. They might then not even be useful for debugging if you send them to your dbi consultants or the Oracle support for analysis. So how can you increase GoldenGate log retention ?…
PostgreSQL 19: pg_waldump can now read from archives
When PostgreSQL 18 introduced the ability to verify tar based (and compressed) backups with pg_verifybackup there was one limitation: The verification of the WAL files in the tars (or compressed files) had to be skipped (–no-parse-wal) because pg_waldump in that version of PostgreSQL is not able to cope with that (and pg_waldump is used by pg_verifybackup). This will change with…
SQL Server 2025 In-Memory: New Cleanup Features & SQLBits 2026 Insights
SQL Server 2025 finally allows dropping In-Memory filegroups, a breakthrough analyzed here alongside expert performance insights from SQLBits 2026.
Deployment removal failed in GoldenGate Configuration Assistant (INS-85038)
Recently, I wrote about deleting a GoldenGate deployment with the REST API, and when investigating this issue, I remembered a limitation of the configuration assistant, which I wanted to talk about. For more information about deployment removal with the configuration assistant, you can read a blog I wrote on the topic (for 23ai, but nothing changed in that regard in…