The introduction says "This book is intended to be read by anyone who wants a deeper understanding of what SQL Server does behind the scenes", so how does it fare? This book has a revered pedigree, ...

This chapter looks at the little documented query optimizer. The chapter opens with a discussion of the steps of the query life cycle, the main steps are: parse (validate syntax, transformation), bind ...

The Guru's Guide to SQL Server Architecture and Internals helps SQL Server power users manage their complex enterprise systems. This valuable reference manual goes far beyond the product's base ...

Developers working with SQL Server often treat indexing as a DBA's domain--something happening "under the hood" that doesn't require much attention unless performance takes a hit. But ignoring the ...

One reoccurring SQL Server question that I see: Why is my TempDB database so large and what can I go to reduce the size of TempDB? The answer requires some basic understanding of the internals of how ...

Recently, I was speaking at a SQL Saturday event (www.sqlsaturday.com), when I encountered a question that I've been getting more and more often. It went something like this: "I know that I can look ...

In my last column (“What’s the Story About SQL Server on Linux?” on the DBTA website), I gave you a broad overview about some of the very cool things happening with SQL Server running on the Linux ...

What exactly does 1 unit of cost represent in SQL Query Analyzer execution plans? [ie: Subtree Cost: 41.2134] Obviously it is some form of measurement since a very simple "select @@version" is like ...