Tools and Utilities
- ColumnStore ColumnScore (Niko Neugebauer)
- DB-Engines Ranking
- Diagnostic Information Queries (Glenn Berry)
- DiskSPD (Storage Performance test)
- HammerDB Benchmark Tool
- Index Help and Find Duplicates (Kimberly Tripp)
- OStress (SQL Stress Utility)
- Powershell DBATools
- Set Statistics IO / Time Parser (Richie Rump)
- SQL DBA Utility: sp_CheckSecurity
- SQL Server First Responder Kit (Brent Ozar)
- SQL Server Maintenance Solution (Ola Hallengren)
- SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
- SQL Server Troubleshooting Scripts (Eric Darling)
- T-SQL Analysis Tool
- Wait Types Library (SQLSkills.com)
- WhoisActive (Adam Machanic)
Recommended Reading
- Cardinality Estimations (Microsoft Docs)
- ColumnStore Indexing (Niko Neugebauer)
- Constant Time Recovery in Azure SQL Database
- Query Optimizer Deep Dive (Paul White)
- SQL Server Execution Plans (Grant Fritchey)
- Execution Plan Reference Guide (Hugo Kornelis)
- Complete Showplan Operators (Fabiano Amorim)
- Loop/Merge/Hash Join Operators (Bert Wagner)
- In-Memory OLTP Internals (Kalen Delaney)
- How SQL Server Stores Data (sqlity.net)
- What is Parameter Sniffing? (Jes Chapman)
- Why you Need Query Store (Erin Stellato)
- Performance Tuning Using Wait Statistics (Stellato and Kehayias)
- Understanding Log Buffer Flushing (Itzik Ben-Gan)
- Convert Log Sequence Number from Hex (David Maxwell)
Information & Guidance
- Dynamic Management Views (DMVs)
- SQL Server Architecture Guides
- SQL Server Best Practices Check
- SQL Server Configuration Assessment
- SQL Server Diagnostic Utility
- SQL Server Log Scout
- SQL Server Query Hints
- SQL Server Release Blog
- SQL Server Shortcuts (Official Microsoft Links)
- SQL Server Team Blog
- SQL Server Troubleshooting Documentation
- SQL Server Updates
- SQL Server Versions and Builds
- Tiger Team Toolbox GitHub
- Trace Flags