[Video] Office Hours: Car in the House Edition
Today I’m hanging out in the dining room, or what would normally be a dining room, but we use it to store a 1992 Honda Beat. I explain why, and then take your top-voted questions from https://pollgab.com/room/brento. The audio on this one is a little t …
How to ensure replication stability in PostgreSQL (fix/prevent lag, bloat, and bottlenecks)
PostgreSQL replication is one of the most powerful tools available for keeping your database resilient, redundant, and performant, but it’s only effective when it’s stable. Replication lag, network bottlenecks, and long-running transactions can each qu …
Who’s Hiring Database People? August 2026 Edition
Is your company hiring for a database position as of August 2026? Do you wanna work with the kinds of people who read this blog? Let’s make a love connection. If your company is hiring, leave a comment. The rules: Your comment must include the job titl …
MySQL vs PostgreSQL: spatial data types, functions, and migration pitfalls explained
MySQL and PostgreSQL both store spatial and geometric data, but they take fundamentally different approaches. While MySQL bakes spatial support directly into its engine, PostgreSQL separates two ecosystems: native geometric types (built-in, flat-plane, …
Free Webcast: 3 Numbers Every Tuner Should Know.
Every SQL Server performance tuner eventually faces the same question: is this normal, or is something wrong? The answer starts with 3 numbers about your SQL Server: How fast it’s going How hard it’s working How big it is On August 19, I’m doing a free …
How to build an Oracle AWR-equivalent diagnostics stack in PostgreSQL (step-by-step guide with code)
Moving from Oracle to PostgreSQL means losing one of Oracle’s most-loved diagnostic tools: the Automatic Workload Repository (AWR). The good news? Most of AWR’s core capabilities – snapshot history, wait event sampling, Top SQL analysis, and buffer cac …
[Video] Office Hours: Desert Database Q&A
I’m in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area today, hanging out in the triple-digit heat, to answer your top-voted questions from https://pollgab.com/room/brento. Prefer listening to this via podcast? Good news! You can now subscribe to Office Hours o …
How a SQL Server backup can execute attacker code during restore – and how to prevent it (CVE-2026-47295 vulnerability)
CVE-2026-47295 is a SQL Server vulnerability that lets a maliciously crafted database backup execute attacker-controlled code with sysadmin privileges during a routine RESTORE DATABASE operation. The flaw lives in the internal replication cleanup proce …
Miscellaneous Thoughts About Building Stuff with AI in July 2026
Over the past couple of years, I’ve been using the bejeezus out of AI. I don’t really feel like an expert by any means – it’s so hard to keep up with the advancements – but I’ve been enjoying reading Grant Fritchey’s series on building stuff with AI, a …
Need a Reference Check on Richie Rump? Here You Go.
So your company read my post about 5 reasons you should hire Richie Rump, and you checked out his web site and his LinkedIn. Now, your HR department wants to do a reference check with me. Alright, let’s get it over with! Would you hire him again? Absol …
What does a modern DBA actually do? 6 key points from a senior DBA
The DBA role has always been misunderstood. But ask a senior database professional what their week looks like today, and it becomes clear how much it has evolved over the years. Cloud spend dashboards, AI-generated pull requests, 30-second downtime win …
Think You Know A Lot About SQL Server? Well, Actually…
Got a few minutes? Close that dating app and pay attention. Check out this little SQL swipe quiz: “Well, Actually…” Swipe right if you think the statement is true, left if it’s false, or up if it’s debatable. Your score is tracked as you go. It’s a fun …
SQL Server index tuning: common mistakes and how to fix them
Indexes are supposed to make SQL Server faster – so why do so many databases end up slower, bloated, and harder to maintain when they have more of them? It usually comes down to misapplied indexes rather than missing ones. There may be too many that ar …
How to get clean, usable data out of SQL Server into Python
In the modern data landscape, most of the effort doesn’t go into building models or dashboards. It goes into getting the data into a usable state. Generally, a large portion of time is spent extracting, cleaning, and reshaping data before any analysis …
Comparing MySQL Enterprise Monitor with Oracle Enterprise Manager for MySQL – which is best?
MySQL Enterprise Monitor was a tool many database administrators turned to in times of need – that was, until Oracle Enterprise Manager for MySQL came along and stole the show, leading to its phasing out at the start of 2025. Plenty of DBAs have since …