Monthly Archives: April 2011

A SQL Server Hardware Nugget A Day – Day 19

Posted on April 19, 2011 by Glenn Berry

For Day 19 of this series, I am going to briefly discuss hardware RAID controllers, also known as disk array controllers. Here is what Wikipedia has to say about RAID controllers: A disk array controller is a device which manages … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer Hardware | Tagged | 3 Comments

SQL Server 2008 R2 RTM Cumulative Update 7

Posted on April 18, 2011 by Glenn Berry

Microsoft has released SQL Server 2008 R2 RTM Cumulative Update 7, which is Build 10.50.1777. 0.  I count 33 fixes in this Cumulative Update. The most interesting one for me is this one, regarding a “Non-yielding scheduler error when you … Continue reading →

Posted in Microsoft, SQL Server 2008 R2 | Tagged | Leave a comment

A SQL Server Hardware Nugget A Day – Day 18

Posted on April 18, 2011 by Glenn Berry

For Day 18 of the series, we will talk about AMD Turbo CORE technology. AMD Turbo CORE is a technology that was recently introduced in the AMD Phenom desktop processor, but the way AMD is going to implement it in … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer Hardware, Processors | Tagged , | 1 Comment

A SQL Server Hardware Nugget A Day – Day 17

Posted on April 17, 2011 by Glenn Berry

For Day 17 of this series, I am going to talk about Geekbench. Geekbench is a cross-platform, synthetic benchmark tool from Primate Labs. It provides a comprehensive set of benchmarks designed to quickly and accurately measure processor and memory performance. … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer Hardware | Tagged | 2 Comments

A SQL Server Hardware Nugget A Day – Day 16

Posted on April 16, 2011 by Glenn Berry

For Day 16 of this series, I want to talk a little bit about the new hardware license limits that were introduced with in SQL Server 2008 R2. As you may be aware, Microsoft introduced two new high-end editions of … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer Hardware, SQL Server 2008 R2 | Tagged | 2 Comments

A SQL Server Hardware Nugget A Day – Day 15

Posted on April 15, 2011 by Glenn Berry

For Day 15 of this series, I am going to talk about Power Management and its effect on processor performance. I have written about this subject a couple of times before, here and here. Other people, such as Paul Randal … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer Hardware, Processors, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2 | Tagged | 3 Comments

A SQL Server Hardware Nugget A Day – Day 14

Posted on April 14, 2011 by Glenn Berry

Since 2006, Intel has adopted a Tick-Tock strategy for developing and releasing new processor models. Every two years, they introduce a new processor family, incorporating a new microarchitecture; this is the Tock release. One year after the Tock release, they … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer Hardware, Processors | Tagged , | 1 Comment

A SQL Server Hardware Nugget A Day – Day 13

Posted on April 13, 2011 by Glenn Berry

For Day 13 of this series, we will cover Intel Turbo Boost Technology. This is not like the the old Turbo button that was on many computers back in the 1980s-1990s. Instead, Turbo Boost Technology and the newer Turbo Boost … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer Hardware, Processors | Tagged , | 1 Comment

A SQL Server Hardware Nugget A Day – Day 12

Posted on April 12, 2011 by Glenn Berry

In Day 12 of this series, we will be talking about AMD Opteron Processor Numbering. Advanced Micro Devices  (AMD) has various versions of the Opteron family that are meant for server use. When assessing AMD processors, it is very helpful … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer Hardware, Processors | Tagged , | 1 Comment

April Version of SQL Server 2008 Diagnostic Queries

Posted on April 11, 2011 by Glenn Berry

I have added two new queries to this month’s version, to try to collect some more hardware information about the database server. I specifically wanted to find out more information about the processor type from T-SQL, since many DBAs don’t … Continue reading →

Posted in SQL Server 2008, SQL Server 2008 R2 | Tagged | 9 Comments