WinSXS folder is the component store of Windows vista and later operating systems. Windows OS stores all its core components within WinSXS directory. WinSXS folder is the only place where OS components are stored; everything else is just hard links. To prove this, use the fsutil to check the hardlinks of a system file. So, [...]

Slow internet speed is often a result of a bad attenuation and SNR margin figure. If you are one of those people who have problems with their internet speed, then you are in the right place. Have you installed an ADSL / VDSL line recently, and you get a slow internet speed? Often the line [...]

In case you are planning to install VMware ESXi on a host server, you need to be aware of the VMware ESXi  best practices that get the most out of your system. You need to be able to identify the best options regarding the CPU cores and sockets, hyper threading, NUMA mode, Hardware assisted virtualization, [...]

Since windows 2008, server core has become a valuable option for deploying more secure and more stable windows servers. Although it is quite easy, many administrators avoid to deploy such solutions because they feel unsure on how to configure and manage such systems using windows CMD commands in the windows command prompt. The main idea [...]

A new feature in windows 2012 installed by default in all server editions! Microsoft calls it Storage Virtualization and the idea behind it is somewhat familiar to most administrators that have worked on a hardware RAID controller before. In fact disk virtualization is working like a software RAID with better scalability, resiliency and optimization. The [...]

In the previous part of the blog post series you’ve seen that the query optimizer examines query predicates in order to analyze statistics for useful indexes in the execution plan decision process. Since indexes are quite important to the query optimization process, the first design tip is to consider WHERE, JOIN, MERGE, ORDER BY and [...]

Which columns should you choose for indexing? To decide on the columns of an index you have to consider the most frequent queries running against your tables. You have to examine the WHERE and JOIN clauses (ORDER BY and GROUP BY also benefit from indexes), since SQL query optimizer will try to find the best [...]

So, why do you need to index your tables? Because without an index the SQL server has to scan the entire table to return the requested data. It is like the index page in a book. You check within the index for the keyword you want to learn about. From that point forward, you jump directly to [...]