SQL Server Case of the Week: The tempdb Data File That Couldn’t Be Removed
January 23, 2026
Summary of tempdb data file issue It’s important to keep the data files in tempdb equally sized, because SQL Server’s internal algorithm wants to use tempdb files that have the most space. Equal sizes help you get equal distribution across all files, reducing the likelihood of contention on a single file. Context: Mismatched tempdb data … Read more
Introducing sp_CheckAG: Check Your SQL Server Availability Groups for Availability Issues
January 21, 2026
SQL Server Availability Groups can be a great feature to help support your High Availability needs, but what happens when they fail to work as expected? Do you have an expiring certificate on used by an endpoint? Do you have timeout settings that could contribute to unexpected failovers? Are you suffering from a high number … Read more
SQL Server Case of the Week: Windows Server 22 Update Possibly Breaking SQL Agent & SSIS Packages
January 9, 2026
We started receiving alerts that a client’s SQL Server Agent was not running. Upon further investigation, we found that the server was recently restarted after Windows updates were applied. While reviewing the installed updates, we encountered an issue with KB5071547 on Windows Server 2022. After some troubleshooting, which included trying to start the agent from … Read more
A Look at the Straight Path Ahead
January 7, 2026
I have been wavering for two weeks between one big, Walsh-sized, long post trying to wrap up our 2025 and talk a bit about the early tea leaves for 2026 and beyond, and two separate posts. But this will be fun – I’m going to try and sum up a year and talk about some … Read more
T-SQL Tuesday #193 – Notes To Ourselves (Recap Post)
January 6, 2026
I didn’t participate this year – but I would probably have something to say learn more about the cloud, spend a lot more time looking at your own feet/hands and ahead a bit and don’t worry so much about the things that scare you. Be curious and explore. This recap is pretty late so there … Read more
SQL Server Case of the Week: SQL Server Audit Errors – Resolving a Common Error
December 19, 2025
When SQL Server Audits Fail – Quick Summary SQL Server Audits – they’re running in the background, but what happens when something goes wrong? There is an alert that we have encountered that, if you follow the information in the error, typically does not lead you to the solution. What do you do then? Every minute the audit is … Read more
SQL Server Case of the Week: The Transaction Log of Your Snapshot Replication Publisher Database Won’t Truncate… But Why?
December 12, 2025
Quick Summary When snapshot replication is configured with schema replication enabled, DDL changes are sometimes marked for replication but never marked for truncation, creating a false “undistributed command” that prevents log truncation and causes uncontrolled growth. The solution was to add a log reader agent using sp_addlogreader_agent on the publisher to mark all replicated commands for truncation. Context The SQL … Read more
Our favorite FREE community supported SQL Server scripts (that we didn’t make)
December 11, 2025
As you may have seen in some of our recent blog posts, here at Straight Path Solutions we’ve been working on a few free scripts to help you with maintaining your SQL Server instances. These include: …BUT THAT’S NOT WHAT THIS POST IS ABOUT! Instead, we want to draw attention to the scripts created by … Read more
T-SQL Tuesday #193: Listen up me!
December 11, 2025
Welcome to my rendition of T-SQL Tuesday. This month’s edition is hosted by Mike Walsh, who asks authors to write two short notes to yourself – one in the past, and one from the future. Dear 2015 Mike, Your first child is 2, your second is 6 months old, and your time with them is going … Read more
Distributed Availability Groups – Certificates, Crash Recovery, and Headaches (Case of the Week)
December 5, 2025
There are a ton of great resources out there teaching you how to build a Distributed Availability Group (DAG), but there aren’t many at all that help you troubleshoot them when they go bump. Fortunately for you (and unfortunately for me) I’ve had enough experience administering DAGs that I’d like to start to share the … Read more
