Accidental DBA

Pluralsight: Getting Started With Your First SQL Server Instance

March 14, 2019 by Kevin3NF Leave a Comment

Almost a full year after I first thought I might have something relevant to contribute, my first Pluralsight course has been published!

Its called “Getting Started With Your First SQL Server Instance” and is targeted to non-DBAs that want to know more about SQL Server Administration, or just want to understand SQL Server beyond the random Google Search when something breaks.

I’m hoping this is just the first of many “Getting Started…” courses that take SQL Server all the way down to entry-level training so people can learn, then test, then do as they go.

The trailer for the course:

I want to thank Chris and Derek at Pluralsight for their guidance along the way…and a huge shoutout to Eugene Meidinger (b|t) for his valuable input before, during and after the course creation.

Thanks for reading!

Kevin3NF

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Video: Moving SQL Server Data Files

January 23, 2019 by Kevin3NF Leave a Comment

If you are like me, when you look at certain pieces of SQL Server documentation the sheer volume of information can be a little overwhelming.

ALTER DATABASE is one of those documents, due to the number of things that can be ALTERed. The documentation has been improved since I was a young newbie DBA, but still…

Anyway, here is a simple video showing me moving a LOG file from my D drive to the C drive:

If you have comments or questions, please leave them on the video, or ping me on Twitter.

Thanks for watching!

Kevin3NF

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Video: Getting Started with SQL Server Execution Plans

January 17, 2019 by Kevin3NF Leave a Comment

I put this video together in about ten minutes of T-SQL code prep, and one-take of the video. It is not meant to be an all-inclusive lesson…merely an introduction to how to read SQL Server Execution Plans (Right to Left, Top to Bottom, etc.) and some basic things to look at. Senior performance tuning DBAs…you probably don’t want to watch this 🙂

Comments and likes are appreciated if you think it has value…

Thanks for watching!

Kevin3NF

Follow @Dallas_DBAs

Video: Cost Threshold for Parallelism

January 10, 2019 by Kevin3NF Leave a Comment

A lightweight video to explain the basics behind the Cost Threshold for Parallelism SQL Server setting, and how to change it:

Thanks for reading!

Kevin3NF

Follow @Dallas_DBAs

SQL Saturday Cincinnati 2019

January 8, 2019 by Kevin3NF Leave a Comment

Dallas DBAs is proud to announce that we are a ?Diamond Sponsor? of SQL Saturday Cincinnati on March 30, 2019, being held at the University of Cincinnati. We will be presenting a lunch session: “Your SQL Servers Are Misconfigured!”

In addition, Dallas DBAs team members Kevin and Derek will present a pre-conference on Friday, March 29: “DBA Fundamentals: Give yourself a solid SQL Server foundation.” This all day session is targeted to Developers, Students, System Admins, Managers, Oracle DBAs, etc. Anyone that can benefit from knowing more about the Administration side of SQL Server. $75.