Dear SQL DBA

Learn how to configure the Max Degree of Parallelism and Cost Threshold for Parallelism settings in SQL Server - and about how SQL Server 2014 SP2 and SQL Server 2016 change the way that SQL Server automatically configures some SQL Servers with lots of cores.

You're a Junior or mid-level Database Administrator with no obvious career path. How do you grow the right skills to level up your DBA career?

SQL Server's "index usage stats" dynamic management view is incredibly useful-- but does it tell you what you THINK it tells you? Kendra explains the quirks of how sys.dm_db_index_usage_stats works, as well as why she thinks the information is so valuable.

You're setting up SQL Server log shipping for disaster recovery. What else do you need to do to best prepare for a failure?

You believe that your expensive SAN is slowing down the SQL Server. How can you make your case without making enemies?

What do you do when your fellow DBA is a ticking time-bomb of bad decisions, waiting to explode your production environment?

The SQL Server is slow, what should you do? Kendra shares her strategy for performance troubleshooting.

Kendra Little answers a question about early adoption of SQL Server, discusses why testing in production isn't necessarily crazy, and recommends how to handle requests to upgrade your SQL Server to use new features.