Performance Studio 1.5.0 released! github.com/erikdarlingd... Got a bunch of cool feedback from Joe Obbish to make the plan analysis smarter and less noisy. And in case you missed it, I'm putting all the analysis into a website: plans.erikdarling.com

Want to have a say in how my performance monitoring tool moves forward? Head here to give me feedback: github.com/erikdarlingd...

There's a new version of sp_WhoIsActive, for those who celebrate: github.com/amachanic/sp...

Hear, hear! WorkloadTools 1.7.3 is out! github.com/spaghettidba... Many fixes to replay code

i've never seen this site before, but it's making me happy in the moment: howfuckedismydatabase.com/nosql/

Making A Website For Tracking My GitHub Stats Making A Website For Tracking My GitHub Stats GitHub only keeps 14 days of traffic data. If you don't capture it, it's gone. I got tired of losing that... https://erikdarling.com/making-a-website-for-tracking-my-github-stats/

In case anyone is interested, I built a site for my GitHub repo stats: stats.erikdarling.com

New Performance Monitor release! Version 2.6. is out and ready for your monitoring pleasure. github.com/erikdarlingd...

Free SQL Server query plan analysis, right in your browser: plans.erikdarling.com Powered by the same analysis engine as Performance Studio. XML doesn't leave your browser, so you can stay private.

Performance Studio Release v1.4.0 github.com/erikdarlingd... As always, a big MERCI is due to MON AMI Romain Ferraton for all the nifty UI/UX tweaks he's been making. For my part, I mostly tried not mess anything up, while adding in some stuff that I think is pretty handy.

For all my F5 friends out there, here's a new release of my SQL Server performance troubleshooting stored procedures: github.com/erikdarlingd...

Performance Monitor 2.5.0 Release (FREE|MIT) This release represents the most powerful and capable release since the last release. Game changer. Literally transformative. It will rock you to your very core. github.com/erikdarlingd...

New Performance Studio Release: 1.3.0 (FREE|MIT): github.com/erikdarlingd... Thanks to Romain Ferraton for the continued Query Store prettification.

Back in Chicago to bring human-generated joy to the people for PASS Data Comunity SUmmit East! Register here: click.red-gate.com/ODA4LUlURy03... #PASSDataSummit

Hyper-threading on Azure VMs is a SQL Licensing Trap Azure VMs with hyper-threading enabled are sized according to logical cores instead of physical cores. These logical cores can perform with 50% of the power of...

top microsoft man strikes again: seangallardy.com/non-yielding...

my proper friend forrest wrote a great post©️ forrestmcdaniel.com/2026/03/23/i...

Been having a few chats about tech debt recently, everyone seems to have a different view so I have pulled this survey together. forms.cloud.microsoft/e/a7Bx2U4tXd It would be great to get your thoughts & feedback. My plan is to publish the response data under creative commons for everyone to use.

jafar, why do you disapprove of the paloma?

And so it begins. www.popsci.com/technology/d...

Performance Studio 1.2.5: Query Store Time Slicer and Automatic Updates: github.com/erikdarlingd... I don't normally do two releases of Performance Studio in a week, but Romain Ferraton added this absolutely gorgeous time slicer to the Query Store integration (along with some bar charts).

i finally found a genuine query_hash collision in sql server. i think it's time to go.

life hack: if you don't like the bloody mary mix, order a double in a short glass.

My Performance Monitoring tool is so good, it even detects corruption: github.com/erikdarlingd...

Double Your Core Count With Azure SQL Managed Instance I'm going to open with a perhaps controversial statement: "when you buy 4 vCores on the Azure SQL Managed Instance platform, what you're actually buying is...

Performance Monitor 2.3 Release: github.com/erikdarlingd... My War on the Big Monitoring© Industrial Complex: * ErikAI analysis engine — rule-based analysis * FinOps — Enterprise feature audit, CPU/memory right-sizing, compression savings, VM right-sizing * Lite data import from previous install

Stay In The Loop, Not In The Middle Credits and Debits This post is inspired by my BFFL Joe Sack's wonderful post: Keep Humans in the Circle. It's an attempt to detail my progression using LLMs, up...

Performance Monitor for SQL Server v2.2.0 Release! This is a big one for efficiency and, well, performance. * Compacted LOB data * Major UI responsiveness improvements * Smarter use of Parquet files There's a lot in the release notes for this one. github.com/erikdarlingd...

the entity framework team is desperately in need of adult database supervision. learn.microsoft.com/en-us/ef/cor...

travel days are always the most exciting computer days. last week before heading to nashville, i had a bios update. this week before heading to chicago, i have low disk space and a 2.2tb xml file called "health_plan".

New Performance Studio Release: Ever wanted to look at a query plan and instantly see all the important stuff you normally have to go digging for, with expert-level analysis done automatically? Works on Windows and Macs. github.com/erikdarlingd...

@motherduck.com thanks for the duck!

on a bit of a building spree, and wanted to gives performance tuning dbas and performance-curious developers a standlone, cross-platform tool to analyze, compare, and get advice on sql server query plans. github.com/erikdarlingd...

What Do You Call A Join That Isn't A Semi Join? What Do You Call A Join That Isn't A Semi Join? There's a gap in SQL Server database terminology that's been bugging me as long as I've been teaching... https://erikdarling.com/what-do-you-call-a-join-that-isnt-a-semi-join/

Free, open source SQL Server performance monitoring that doesn't suck. New in 2.1.0: - 18 *new* plan analysis rules - Standalone plan viewer - Light themes for the dark mode haters - Timezone toggles - Tons more fixes and improvements github.com/erikdarlingd...

For all the nice folks out there who still like to hit F5 to troubleshoot SQL Server, here are some spring script updates: github.com/erikdarlingd...

The new Ballmer Curve: tomwojcik.com/posts/2026-0...

Currently working on surfacing query plan stuff you should know about in my free SQL Server Monitoring tool. Interesting statement level information, Missing index memes, and a Wait Stats graph. Plus, more query analysis rules! github.com/erikdarlingd...

i could say a lot about all the features and improvements, but c'mon: native query plan viewing. 1. view cached plans from just about anywhere 2. get actual execution plans right in the dashboard 3. have my brand of plan analysis built right in github.com/erikdarlingd...

Get AI-Ready With Erik: Helping Vectors Rank Better With Keyword Boosts Get AI-Ready With Erik: Helping Vectors Rank Better With Keyword Boosts https://youtu.be/iLZXG0ATh6k Video Summary In this... https://erikdarling.com/get-ai-ready-with-erik-helping-vectors-rank-better-with-keyword-boosts/

If you're like me, and you forget which PerfMon counters to use for problems, you're gonna love the PerfMon packs coming to my free SQL Server Monitoring Tool. github.com/erikdarlingd...

Get AI-Ready With Erik: Full Text Keyword Search In SQL Server Get AI-Ready With Erik: Full Text Keyword Search In SQL Server https://youtu.be/xt74-ELR05g Video Summary In this video, I dive into the... https://erikdarling.com/get-ai-ready-with-erik-full-text-keyword-search-in-sql-server/

Coming soon to my free SQL Server Monitoring tool: native plan viewing, getting actual execution plans, and plan analysis rules that I've always wanted to see in SSMS. Check it out here: github.com/erikdarlingd...

Looking for feedback on filtering, alert muting, and exclusions with my free SQL Server monitoring tool: github.com/erikdarlingd...

SQL Server Performance Office Hours Episode 49 SQL Server Performance Office Hours Episode 49 https://youtu.be/U4z0UZrrCn0 Query Store shows this plan has the lowest average duration, so it must be the best plan. Should... https://erikdarling.com/sql-server-performance-office-hours-episode-49/

Emulating GETDATE() on Azure SQL Database GETDATE() always uses the UTC time zone on Azure SQL Database which can be a compatibility issue for applications that assume that GETDATE() is using a different time zone....

a friday release! free sql performance monitoring for the people! lots of bug fixes and improvements in this one. as always, check the release notes and readme, and use github for questions, comments, concerns, and support: github.com/erikdarlingd...

reading and wondering why people are so mean to databases: learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/sq...

Get AI-Ready With Erik: A Little About Cross Table Searches Get AI-Ready With Erik: A Little About Cross Table Searches https://youtu.be/iSlJfLeQZNs Video Summary In this video, I delve into the exciting... https://erikdarling.com/get-ai-ready-with-erik-a-little-about-cross-table-searches/

you'd think that a file called readme would encourage people to read it. funny, that.