T-SQL Tuesday #66 is hosted by me (yay, fun!) and is all about monitoring. We all monitor something while working with SQL Server, and there are so many topics to choose from. As a Data Warehouse developer I use Adam Machanic’s sp_WhoIsActive all the time, I look at the Integration Services Dashboard in SSMS to monitor SSIS package executions and I check the Job Activity Monitor for a quick overview of what’s currently running on our servers.
However, I decided to write about a custom Real Time Monitoring solution we use in my company (Storebrand) that my coworkers in Lithuania created. I couldn’t resist this opportunity to show one of our cool solutions that I get to use and to brag about how talented my coworkers are 👏🏻
Welcome to T-SQL Tuesday #66! My name is Cathrine Wilhelmsen (@cathrinew) and I’m very happy to be your host for the T-SQL Tuesday on May 12th, 2015. The topic of the month is monitoring.
Much Monitoring in the Month of May
We all monitor something while working with SQL Server: Maybe you’re a DBA who monitors database performance, an SSIS developer who monitors job and package execution, an application developer who monitors queries or a BI analyst who monitors report usage? Do you use T-SQL or PowerShell scripts? Have you created your own monitoring reports or applications? Have you invested in a complete monitoring solution from a vendor? What is monitored manually and what is automated with alerts? If a brand new SQL Server professional in your role asks you for advice, what do you say is the number one most important thing to monitor? Have you ever stayed awake for a week solving a problem that could have been avoided with proper monitoring? Did you implement a monitoring solution that saved your company?
T-SQL Tuesday #65 is hosted by Mike Donnelly (@SQLMD). There is no specific topic to write about this month, Mike simply wants us to learn something new and then write a blog post to teach it to others. I want to share something that I only recently learned, something I wish I had known about years ago, something that became part of my toolbox as soon as I discovered it: the Numbers Table. It is so simple and solves so many problems that everyone should know about it 🤓
A Numbers Table (perhaps most known as a Tally Table, sometimes called an Auxiliary Table of Numbers and even referred to as the Swiss Army Knife of SQL Server) is a one-column helper table that contains the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and so on all the way up to the-highest-number-you-could-possibly-need.
It can be used to replace slower loops and row-by-row operations with faster set-based operations, generate dates, split strings, find gaps in data sets, expand data sets, insert test data and probably hundreds of other things. There are so many great and detailed articles already published about this topic, so I will stick to the T-SQL Tuesday topic of “Teach Something New” and share the two most recent things I learned: different ways to create a numbers table, and different ways to quickly insert test data by using a numbers table.
T-SQL Tuesday #57 is hosted by Jeffrey Verheul (@DevJef) and the topic is #SQLFamily. This is a topic close to my heart and even while writing this I’m all excited to read other stories. I can go on for ages about #SQLFamily, but I’ve decided to focus on one thing: pay it forward.
One year ago I had never heard about #SQLFamily and I didn’t even know the SQL community existed. I knew people wrote blogs and forum posts, I knew some taught classes and others published books, but I was your average employee: I did my job, learned what I had to learn to do my job well, and searched online to find solutions and better ways to do things.
Then I went to PASS Summit 2013 and the experience turned my life upside-down.