October Monthly CASSUG Meeting

Name: October Monthly CASSUG Meeting
Start: 2025-10-13T17:30:00-04:00
Location: Rensselaer County Regional Chamber of Commerce

Schedule

Mon, 13 Oct, 2025 at 05:30 pm

UTC-04:00

Location

Rensselaer County Regional Chamber of Commerce | Troy, NY

Greetings, data enthusiasts!
Our October meeting is scheduled for Monday, October 13th, at 5:30 pm! We will meet in person at: Rensselaer Chamber of Commerce, 90 4th Street, Troy, NY.
Please RSVP at https://www.meetup.com/capital-area-sql-server-user-group/events/304541098/ (NOTE: use the link to RSVP; do NOT RSVP on Facebook) if you are attending, so we can purchase an appropriate amount of food for everyone. Food is TBA (will be announced closer to the event). For this meeting, we are welcoming Taiob Ali, a Microsoft MVP hailing from the Boston area!
Our meeting schedule is as follows:
5:30 PM: Food, soft drinks, and networking
6:15 PM: Chapter news and announcements
6:30 PM: Presentation
We usually wrap up between 7:30 PM and 8:00 PM.
Taiob will be presenting: SQL Server Detective: Investigating Logs and Traces for Optimal Performance:
Your role as a DBA is crucial, as a pivotal figure in the realm of Microsoft SQL Server. Your ability to monitor and analyze your server’s performance and troubleshoot issues is essential, and it's what keeps the system running smoothly. One of the most effective ways to do this is by utilizing the built-in data collection, which records a wealth of information.
This session will delve into six collections (Logs and traces) that can provide valuable insights into your server’s configuration, health, and performance. By the end of this session, you will be equipped with practical knowledge that will empower you to handle any SQL Server issue confidently.
• Default trace
• SQL Error log
• SQL Agent Error log
• System_health
• AlwaysOn_health
• Telemetry xEvents
I will show you each one's default location, retention, and content captured. We will discuss how to access and interpret these logs and demonstrate how they can be used to identify and diagnose issues such as failed logins and deadlocks, the health of the Windows cluster and availability group, and schema changes. By effectively utilizing the SQL Blackbox, you can ensure the smooth operation of your server and maintain the highest performance and reliability.
Prerequisite: Familiarity with SQL Server administration
Goals:
1. Know the default location, retention, and content of the six built-in SQL Server logs/collections.
2. Know how information from these collections can be extracted for different troubleshooting scenarios and ensure reliable and highly available database systems.