The Slow Upgrade of SQL Server Versions

It seems that instances are being upgraded about every ten years, according to Steve's interpretation of some reports. Do you agree? Let us know how often you upgrade.

Deploying SQL Server Automatically

I've had to install SQL Server many times over the years. Often it has felt that most of these installs were one-offs, a dev server, a new QA instance, a production server for a brand new application. A few times I've had to recover from disaster, including restoring master, but often, I just installed SQL […]

Patching Challenges

Having a patching strategy for your systems is important, and Steve notes that you ought to be organized and allow for some flexibility when designing one.

Shutting Down the Instance

Database snapshots

Killing Stats Updates

LocalDB Install

Replacing Startup Options

Maintenance Windows

Is it better to ask forgiveness than permission? Some people take that approach to maintenance windows, but that isn't permissible in the cloud.

Where is the job id?