Source: https://james.rhoat.com/post/
Title: Posts
Kind: section

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# Posts

## Pages in this section

- [PVE Resize Disk](https://james.rhoat.com/p/resize-local-lvm/index.md) — Extending the local-lvm disk size on a proxmox server
- [Building this site](https://james.rhoat.com/p/hugo-website/index.md) — How I spun up this Hugo site — picking a theme, wiring deploys, and the bits I'd skip if I started over.
- [Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS)](https://james.rhoat.com/p/vss-backups/index.md) — How VSS and the SQL Writer Service interact with SQL Server backups, including supported operations, limitations around point-in-time recovery, and common troubleshooting steps.
- [Vertical Partitioning](https://james.rhoat.com/p/vertical-partitioning/index.md) — How vertical partitioning (row splitting) reduces page waste and improves query performance in SQL Server, with a one-million-row demo.
- [Understanding Storage in SQL Server](https://james.rhoat.com/p/understanding-storage/index.md) — How SQL Server organizes data at the page and extent level, and why LOB, in-row, and row-overflow storage matter for performance and design.
- [Transaction Log Management](https://james.rhoat.com/p/transaction-log-management/index.md) — A practical Q&A on SQL Server transaction log internals: how transactions work, crash recovery, why logs grow, and the correct way to shrink and resize the log file.
- [SSMS Productivity Tips](https://james.rhoat.com/p/ssms-productivity/index.md) — Eight practical tips for working faster in SQL Server Management Studio, from block selection and split windows to color-coded connections.
- [SQL Server Corruption Post Mortem](https://james.rhoat.com/p/sql-corruption-post-mortem/index.md) — A post-mortem guide for SQL Server database corruption: likely causes from I/O subsystem errors to firmware, early detection strategies, and recovery steps.
- [Row Structure in SQL Server](https://james.rhoat.com/p/row-structure/index.md) — Understanding SQL Server row structure, including fixed and variable length columns, null bitmaps, and how trailing nulls affect storage efficiency.
- [Recovery Model Behavior](https://james.rhoat.com/p/recovery-model-behavior/index.md) — A comparison of SQL Server's Full, Simple, and Bulk-Logged recovery models, covering transaction log behavior, backup requirements, and disaster recovery implications.
- [SQL Server Maintenance Tasks](https://james.rhoat.com/p/maintenance-tasks/index.md) — Essential SQL Server maintenance tasks for accidental DBAs: backup strategies, consistency checks with DBCC CHECKDB, index rebuilds, and understanding RPO/RTO.
- [Implicit Conversion in SQL Server](https://james.rhoat.com/p/implicit-conversion/index.md) — How to audit your database for implicit conversions, identify data type mismatches across columns, and find conversion warnings in the plan cache.
- [Understanding HEAP Tables](https://james.rhoat.com/p/heaps/index.md) — Why SQL Server heap tables cause performance problems through full table scans and forwarding rows, with a demo showing the I/O impact and how to fix them.
- [Database Design - Why Does It Matter](https://james.rhoat.com/p/db-design-part-2/index.md) — Why data type selection matters for SQL Server performance, memory usage, backups, and long-term scalability, with concrete byte-savings examples.
- [Database Design Part 1](https://james.rhoat.com/p/db-design-part-1/index.md) — An introduction to SQL Server database design covering data type selection, table structure, and why thoughtful design matters for long-term performance.
- [Database Table Size](https://james.rhoat.com/p/database-table-size/index.md) — A reusable SQL query to report row counts, total space, used space, and unused space per table and schema using sys.allocation_units.
- [Moving to SQL Server 2014/2016](https://james.rhoat.com/p/moving-to-sql-2014-2016/index.md) — Key considerations when migrating to SQL Server 2014 or 2016, including the new cardinality estimator, edition changes, and version downgrades.