Bjoern@CraftedSQL
SQL Server 2025: Why “What’s New?” Is the Wrong First Question
In many SQL Server 2025 upgrade discussions, the conversation starts in a familiar way. A new version appears, someone opens the feature list, and before the team has properly understood the current estate, the discussion already moves toward individual capabilities that sound useful, modern, or strategically relevant. That reaction is ...
SQL Server 2016 End of Support: The Real Problem Is Not the Date
SQL Server 2016 EOL is approaching: Extended Support ends on July 14, 2026, according to the official Microsoft Lifecycle page for SQL Server 2016. Mainstream Support already ended in July 2021. For many organizations, that date is now close enough to appear in roadmaps, risk registers, audit discussions, or internal ...
Blocking and Concurrency in SQL Server: Why “Enough CPU” Does Not Mean Your System Is Fine
In many SQL Server environments, SQL Server blocking and concurrency problems do not start with dramatic infrastructure metrics. CPU usage looks normal, memory does not show obvious pressure, and storage latency stays within the expected range. From an infrastructure perspective, the server appears calm. At the same time, users wait, ...
Understanding Wait Stats: Signal, Context, and Limits in SQL Server Analysis
When Wait Stats Become the Explanation Too Early In many SQL Server performance cases, wait stats are one of the first things people look at once the symptoms become visible. A report takes longer than usual, an application feels slow, users start complaining, and someone runs a query against the ...
SQL Server Performance: Why Diagnosis Starts with the Problem
“SQL Server is slow” is often where SQL Server performance diagnosis begins. In many SQL Server environments, a ticket is opened, an email is forwarded, or someone brings it up during a call because an application no longer behaves the way people expect it to. Often there is already pressure ...
Why SQL Server performance tuning often fails in real environments
In many SQL Server environments, performance reviews start in a familiar and reasonable way. DBAs review indexes, check statistics, analyze execution plans, and identify expensive queries. That is not wrong. In fact, it is often the right place to start, and it aligns with the general guidance described in Microsoft’s ...
SQL Server 2016 End of Support: Upgrade, Migration, Azure or ESU is the wrong first question
In many SQL Server environments, the SQL Server 2016 end-of-support discussion starts at the wrong level. The first conversation is often already about upgrade, migration, Azure, or Extended Security Updates, although there is no reliable inventory of the instance, the applications around it, SQL Agent jobs, reporting dependencies, vendor boundaries, ...
SQL Server 2016 End of Support: What Companies Should Review Now
In many SQL Server environments, the first problem with an older version is not the version number itself. The real problem is often that there is no complete and reliable picture of what is still running, which applications depend on it, who owns the systems, and which changes are actually ...
SQL Server Slow? How to Analyze and Fix Performance Issues
In SQL Server troubleshooting, the first signal is often not a clear technical error message. It is usually something less precise: an application feels slower than usual, reports no longer finish in the expected time, or users begin to avoid certain screens because they no longer respond reliably. At that ...
SQL Server Suddenly Slow? The 5 Most Common Causes (and How to Recognize Them)
In many SQL Server environments, performance problems do not begin with a clear error message. They begin much earlier, with small signals that do not look dramatic on their own. A report takes longer than usual, an application screen reacts slowly, a job misses its normal runtime window, or users ...