Backup compression reduces the on-disk size of SQL Server backup files and can significantly shorten backup duration by reducing the amount of data written to disk. This post shows how to enable compression at the server level, verify the setting is active, and confirm compression ratios from backup history using the …

SQL Server records CPU utilization data internally every minute and stores the last 256 readings in a ring buffer. This T-SQL script reads that buffer to produce a CPU history report showing SQL Server CPU usage, other process CPU usage, and total server CPU load — without requiring any external monitoring tool. …

Running DBCC CHECKDB on every database is one of the most important tasks for a SQL Server DBA. But in busy environments it is easy to lose track of which databases have been checked recently and which have not. This script loops through all user databases, reads the last known good DBCC CHECKDB date from each one, and …

Orphaned database users are a common problem after database restores, server migrations, or login deletions. A database user becomes orphaned when its SID does not match any server-level login SID. This script queries sys.database_principals and sys.server_principals to find every orphaned user in a database, and shows …

MAXDOP (max degree of parallelism) controls how many CPU threads SQL Server can use for a single parallel query. The default value of 0 allows SQL Server to use all available processors, which can cause large parallel queries to monopolise the server. This script reads the CPU topology from system DMVs and calculates …

TempDB is a shared system database used by every session in SQL Server. When TempDB space grows or performance slows, it can be difficult to know which sessions are responsible. This script queries sys.dm_db_session_space_usage to show a clear breakdown of TempDB consumption per session, including the current SQL …

Tables without primary keys are heap structures with no guaranteed row ordering and no unique row identifier. They cause full table scans in queries that could use seeks, slow down DELETE and UPDATE operations, and are incompatible with SQL Server replication and Change Data Capture. This script finds every user table …

Query Backup Duration and File Size from SQL Server History This script queries SQL Server's msdb backup history to report the backup type, start and finish time, duration in minutes, and file size in both megabytes and gigabytes for every backup across all user databases on the server. Purpose and Overview Knowing …

Find Active Long-Running Queries in SQL Server This script queries sys.dm_exec_requests and sys.dm_exec_sql_text to show all currently executing queries on the SQL Server instance, sorted by how long they have been running, along with CPU time, I/O activity, blocking status, and wait type information. Purpose and …

Report SQL Server Agent Job Status and Failure History This script queries the SQL Server Agent job history stored in msdb to produce a detailed report of each job's most recent run status, failure and success counts over the last 60 days, total lifetime run counts, and job step information including subsystem type and …