The SQL Server Tiger Team Bookmarks

Last week while I attended the Microsoft MVP Summit, I had the honor to attend sessions delivered by Pedro Lopes (blog | @SQLPedro) and his Tiger team. The SQL Server Tiger team are engineers that work with customers to solve their biggest issues and will help build and deploy patches as necessary. Together with the CAT team and Microsoft CSS, these three teams offer a level of customer support that is second to none in the industry.

During the Summit last week Pedro shared this slide that detailed a list of SQL Server Tiger team bookmarks:

(And yes, I was given permission to share this slide. Warrants mentioning before some jackhole tries to get me in trouble for violating my MVP NDA by sharing.)

The slide is great, and it’s been shared by many. But it’s not clickable, except on the Tiger team page here. And even on that page, it is buried beneath the fold.

So, I thought it would be good to have more than one page on the internet with links because that’s how the Google works (or so I’ve been told).

This is the official team blog for SQL Server Tiger team of engineers. If you aren’t following this blog, you should. There is no better blog of in-depth technical details for SQL Server on the internet.

Located at: http://aka.ms/sqlserverteam

The GitHub repository for the SQL Server Tiger team, it contains “as-is” solutions and tools/scripts that published by team members. You won’t find a better set of script for SQL Server. Many scripts floating around the internet all have their genesis from here.

Located at: http://aka.ms/tigertoolbox

The only blog you need to follow regarding SQL Server releases, including service packs, cumulative updates, and public previews.

Located at: http://aka.ms/sqlreleases

One of the Toolbox items, you won’t do better than this script for any server you need to manage. Written by SQL Server engineers, any similar script on the internet is second best.

Located at: http://aka.ms/bpcheck

This page contains detailed technical documents for the standards that are implemented in SQL Server. Stuff like ISO and ANSI and I’ve already fallen asleep. Seriously important, just not exciting, stuff.

Located at: http://aka.ms/sqlstandards

The BOL page that lists and describes the trace flags that are available (and supported) in SQL Server. Not every trace flag is listed. Trace flag behavior can vary between versions of SQL Server. Use with caution. Do not taunt trace flags.

Located at: http://aka.ms/traceflags

A comprehensive list of the support start and (most important) end dates for versions of SQL Server and related products.

Located at: http://aka.ms/sqllifecycle

A comprehensive list of all SQL Server builds going back to SQL 2005. It’s a long list of links for downloading builds and service packs, but not for RTM downloads.

Located at: http://aka.ms/sqlupdates

A list of guides available that discuss general concepts. They apply to all versions of SQL Server unless stated otherwise. Topics include thread and task execution, query processing, and index design. There is so much information here it makes me wonder why anyone would ever bother writing blog posts ever again.

Located at: http://aka.ms/sqlserverguides

This is where you go to provide feedback on SQL Server. It’s the “new Connect“. If you have a comment or suggestion, this is the place. It’s the place where you upvote to fix the generic “binary or string data would be truncated” error message to provide meaningful information.

Located at: http://aka.ms/sqlfeedback

BONUS MATERIAL!

Less than an hour after posting this, Pedro Lopes sent me this tweet:

Looks awesome – we added since another one but not a big deal: T-SQL Syntax Conventions: https://t.co/46Sbsf6atW — Pedro Lopes (@SQLPedro) March 12, 2018

So, here’s the extra link and I’ll do my best to add them as needed.

A link to a BOL article that helps you understand the other BOL articles by explaining the shorthand notation used in the syntax diagrams in the Transact-SQL Reference pages.

Located at: aka.ms/sqlconventions

There you go, the entire list from the slide, with descriptions. Oh, and don’t forget to follow the SQL Server Tiger Team on Twitter at @mssqltiger.

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