SSMS v22.4.1: Copilot is GA. So What’s It Do Right ...
Copilot in SSMS has two parts. Usually people focus on the pop-out Copilot chat window, and that’s useful […]
brentozar.com
[Video] Office Hours in North Bay, Ontario
I’m up in North Bay, Ontario, Canada for the 2026 Can-Am Curling Cup run by Aaron Bertrand – […]
Updated First Responder Kit and Consultant Toolkit for March 2026
For the last few years, I’ve slowed the First Responder Kit release down to once per quarter. It […]
Get Free AI Query Advice in PasteThePlan.
At PasteThePlan.com, you can paste execution plans into your browser, then send a link to someone else to […]
[Video] Office Hours, Standing in the Ocean Edition
My tripod is probably never gonna recover from the salt water, but the water was so nice that […]
Using Claude Code with SQL Server and Azure SQL DB
Let’s start with a 7-minute demo video – I didn’t edit this down because I want you to […]
Row-Level Security Can Slow Down Queries. Index For It.
The official Azure SQL Dev’s Corner blog recently wrote about how to enable soft deletes in Azure SQL […]
Logical Reads Aren’t Repeatable on Columnstore Indexes. (sigh)
Sometimes I really hate my job. Forever now, FOREVER, it’s been a standard thing where I can say, […]
[Video] Office Hours: Back in the Bahamas Edition
Yes, I’m back on a cruise ship with another 360 degree video. Lest you think I’m being wildly […]
Who’s Hiring Database People? March 2026 Edition
Is your company hiring for a database position as of March 2026? Do you wanna work with the […]
The Tech Consulting Market Isn’t Looking Good.
After hearing the same dire news from several of my consulting friends, I put a poll up on […]
[Video] Office Hours in the Vegas Home Office
Let’s hang out in my home office in Vegas and go through your top-voted questions from https://pollgab.com/room/brento. The […]
I Don’t Take Private Questions at Pre-Conference Classes.
When I first started teaching database sessions at conferences, I noticed a pattern. When I finished the session, […]
10 Signs It Was Time to Hire Me
You’ve been reading my blog, watching my videos, and maybe even taking some of my training classes. You’ve […]
[Video] Office Hours: Ask Me Anything About Microsoft SQL Server ...
Want to ask your own questions or pick the ones I discuss? Head over to https://pollgab.com/room/brento to get […]
How to Help Copilot Encourage Good Database Standards
I know a lot of y’all lag behind on upgrading SSMS, but v22.3 just introduced something that you […]
[Video] Office Hours at Atlantis, Bahamas
It’s an overcast afternoon at Atlantis Paradise Island in the Bahamas, so since I can’t go into the […]
Updated First Responder Kit and Consultant Toolkit for February 2026
Two big sets of news this month! The Consultant Toolkit now supports imports to a database so you […]
[Video] Office Hours Aboard the Groove Cruise
On the world’s largest floating electronic dance music festival, I took your top-voted database questions from https://pollgab.com/room/brento. Here’s […]
Who’s Hiring Database People? February 2026 Edition
Is your company hiring for a database position as of February 2026? Do you wanna work with the […]
I’m Coming to #SQLBits! Here are My Sessions.
The annual SQLBits conference is April 22-25, and they just announced the session and speaker lineup. This year’s […]
[Video] Home Office Hours, Under Construction Edition
While in the midst of moving my home office into a new room in the house, I stopped […]
Automatic Stats Updates Don’t Always Invalidate Cached Plans
Normally, when SQL Server updates statistics on an object, it invalidates the cached plans that rely on that […]
Maybe You Shouldn’t Even Be Using Clustering or AGs.
Sandra Delany (LinkedIn) wrote a well-thought-out blog post called, “Should a SQL Server DBA Know Windows Clustering?” She’s […]
SQL Server 2025 CU1 is Off to a Rough Start
SQL Server 2025 Cumulative Update 1 came out last week, and I was kinda confused by the release […]
Thoughts on PASS’s Bankruptcy, Redgate’s Acquisition, and Private Equity
A private equity (PE) company recently acquired the majority of Redgate Software, the current owners of the PASS Data […]
SQL ConstantCare® Population Report: Winter 2026
It’s time for our quarterly update of our SQL ConstantCare® population report, showing how quickly (or slowly) folks […]
Announcing the 2026 Data Professional Salary Survey Results, And They’re ...
The results are in! You can download the raw data in Excel for all 10 years and do […]
SQLBits Session Voting is Open Now! Wanna See My Sessions ...
I’d love to come over and speak at SQLBits this April, but for that to happen, the organizers […]
New Year’s Task: Quick, Easy Prep for a Raise
You’re busy, so I’ll keep this short. Several months from now, you’re gonna have a salary review. Your […]
Database Development with AI in 2026
This seems like the appropriate first BrentOzar.com blog post in the year 2026, eh? In the PollGab question […]
Are You Looking for Work? Underpaid? Overpaid? Let’s Find Out.
Every year, I run a salary survey to help folks have better discussions with their managers about salaries, […]
Your Favorite Posts From This Year
Reading is fundamental, and fundamentally, here are the 2025 blog posts that y’all read the most this year. […]
Known Issues So Far in SQL Server 2025
Whenever a brand spankin’ new version of any software comes out, there are bugs, and SQL Server is […]
[Video] Office Hours at the Last Spike
I drove the Graffiti Gulf out to The Last Spike (video) outside of Las Vegas and took your […]
Identity Columns Can Have Gaps, and That’s Okay.
Say you’ve got a table with an identity column, something that’s supposed to start at 1 and go […]
Let’s Build a Better KILL. What Do We Need to ...
When there’s a performance emergency, a lot of us perform the same manual tasks over and over. We […]
Watch My Training Classes Offline with the Latest Teachable App
If you’re the kind of person who likes to learn on the go, my training provider Teachable just […]
[Video] Office Hours: Everything’s Gone Wrong Edition
I threw in the towel on my workday at 3PM when everything started going wrong in the Ozar […]
Update: SQL Server 2025’s REGEX Performance Isn’t So Bad!
Back in March 2025 when Microsoft first announced that REGEX support was coming to SQL Server 2025 and […]
How’s the Job Market? Let’s Find Out Together.
Every year, I run a salary survey to help folks have better discussions with their managers about salaries, […]
Act Fast: The Holiday Speed Round Sale Starting at $129
This holiday season, we’re running a sale specifically for fast learners. For record-low prices, get access to my […]
[Video] Office Hours: Fireside Chat Edition
It’s the perfect time of year in Las Vegas when we can chill outside by the fire, enjoy […]
Get ChatGPT’s Advice On Your Queries with sp_BlitzCache.
First off, I understand if you read the headline and you have a knee-jerk reaction. I totally understand […]
Cyber Monday Sale: $49 Fundamentals, $295 Mastering Classes
You’ve been on the nice list, and Santa has a little something special for you under the tree […]
Query Exercise Answer: Generating Big TempDB Spills
In last week’s Query Exercise, I challenged you to play some code golf to generate big spills with […]
Updated First Responder Kit and Consultant Toolkit for November 2025
This quarter’s release includes new checks for SQL Server 2025’s new memory pressure warnings, Azure SQL DB’s operations […]
This Is It! Our Black Friday Sale Ends Sunday.
You work with Microsoft SQL Server, Azure SQL DB, and Amazon RDS SQL Server. When people call in […]
Functions in the WHERE Clause Are Bad… Right?
Nah, not necessarily. SQL Server’s query optimizer behavior keeps changing with every freakin’ version. Let’s illustrate it with […]
T-SQL Query Exercise: Generate Big Spills
When I was testing SQL Server 2025’s new ability to limit TempDB usage with Resource Governor, I wrote […]