Well I finally accomplished a goal of mine– that being  to complete the training for SQL Server Performance Tuning and Optimisation (IEPTO1 and IEPTO2) offered by sqlskills https://www.sqlskills.com/sql-server-training/

Modules covered:

• Database Structures
• Data File Internals and Maintenance
• Transactions and Locking
• Row Versioning and Isolation
• Optimizing Logging and Recovery
• Index Internals and Data Access
• Index Fragmentation
• Internals and Covering
• Statistics: Internals and Updates
• Cardinality Estimation Issues
• Indexing Strategies
• SQL Server I/O
• I/O Concepts for DBAs
• Storage Area Networks for DBAs
• SQLOS Scheduling and CPU Performance Tuning
• Data Collection and Baselining
• Extended Events
• Wait and Latch Statistics
• Query Plan Analysis
• Statement Execution, Stored Procedures, and the Plan Cache
• SQLOS Memory Management and Memory Performance Tuning
• Deadlock Analysis
• Performance Issue Patterns

All the above was covered over 10 days (split across 2 courses), each day was very intense but fun at the same time – the sqlskills team are really engaging, passionate and have  great energy between them which at times left me in stitches. Obviously I Learnt alot but more importantly certain areas just made much more sense to me after that specific session – I mean, who better to tell you about how logging works than Paul?

If I was to pick 3 of my favorite modules they would be: (No particular order) Wait stats, Transactions / logging and Memory performance tuning.

A special mention to the last module in IEPTO2 – Performance issue patterns. Here we had to use what we learnt over the 10 days to diagnose a scenario and present a solution to the problem given to us – which varied from plan cache bloat to INSERT hotspots – this was an interactive and fun module! It was really tricky as some parts of the issue would lead us completely down the wrong path, much to Jonathan’s pleasure!

If you get a chance to attend these classes you will not be disappointed, you will feel more confident in your daily job and be better prepared for those “late” nights.

Oh – here is my new friend Paulie.