Wayne Sheffield

My blog about SQL Server

Now, why in the world would I be asking a question like this? Well, in BOL (BACKUP) is this little blurb: CHECKSUM Specifies that the backup operation will verify each page for checksum and torn page, if enabled and available, and generate a checksum for the entire backup. This is the default behavior for a […]

So here it is, the second Tuesday of the month. This means that it is time for our favorite Tuesday activity – the SQL world-wide blogging party know as T-SQL Tuesday. The brainchild of Adam Machanic, this is an event where for 24 hours, SQL bloggers will blog about a topic selected by an individual. […]

I was looking into a failed job on a SQL Server 2008R2 instance. My first step was to check the history of the job, to see why it failed: Okay, this is interesting. The job did fail, but the only step to run succeeded. Hmm, let me look at what the job is doing: The […]

For those of you that know me, you know that I enjoy learning, and passing on what I have learned to others. As it turns out, this whole presenting thing has been an interesting path for me. (You can read more about the early disastrous presentations in my life here.) As I have started to […]

In my recent blog post on “Retiring of the MCM Certifications”, there is a link to a Microsoft Connect item that Jen Stirrup started (//connect.microsoft.com/SQLServer/feedback/details/799431/please-dont-get-rid-of-the-mcm-and-mca-programs) to keep the MCM/MCSM/MCA program alive. A few hours after my post, Tim Sneath from Microsoft responded to the Connect item. I want to respond to a few parts of […]

The MCM is dead. Long live the MCM. The small, exclusive club of SQL Server Microsoft Certified Masters is going to remain small and exclusive. This club, with less than 200 members world-wide, includes some of the biggest and brightest names in the SQL Server community. And Microsoft has decided to throw this program to […]

Sometimes it’s the small things that count. I just noticed two small enhancements to SQL Server 2014’s BOL, and I can tell they are going to make my life easier. How many times have you been developing a script, and you’re trying to make it work with multiple versions of SQL Server? Since I handle […]

Execution Plan Operators to investigate when having performance problems with SQL queries.

If you can establish a connection to a SQL Server, but are having problems logging in to it, you will get an 18456 error. This error is deliberately obfuscated in SQL Server so that the user can’t tell why the error failed (and thus try to crack into the server). All the user will get […]

We all have a bucket list – that list of things that we want to accomplish before one, well, kicks the bucket. Perhaps you want to ski the Swiss Alps. Learn a foreign language. Learn to play a musical instrument. Surf the Hawaiian swells. Visit far-away places. Get romanced by a Frenchman in Paris (which […]