SQL Server Performance & Tuning Blog – Where Milliseconds Matter 🚀

Before we dive into today's topic, if you missed my previous post you can take a look at Understand stemming in SQL Server to become a better DBA . 👉 If you found this deep-dive helpful, feel free to check out the ads—your support helps me keep creating high-quality SQL Server content for the community, 20.04.2026 SQL Server 2025 CU4: Did Microsoft Finally Solve the FTS Crash? Test Day 3 In this post, I’ll reveal why your Full-Text Search queries might unexpectedly crash when using specific languages, and how SQL Server 2025 CU4 finally fixes the IStemmer bug. Stop letting undocumented language issues break your production code! TL;DR ✔️ KB 5071334 fixes Full-Text Search failures for version 2 languages missing an IStemmer 🛠️ ✔️ The bug caused hard errors when using FREETEXT or FORMSOF(INFLECTIONAL...) 💣 ✔️ You no longer need clunky workarounds for unsupported linguistic stems 🚀 ✔️ We provide the exact T-SQL to test and validate this fix in your environme...

Before we dive into today's topic, if you missed my previous post you can take a look at SQL Server 2025 CU4: Does JSON_CONTAINS Break Your Queries? Test Day 2 . 👉 If you found this deep-dive helpful, feel free to check out the ads—your support helps me keep creating high-quality SQL Server content for the community. 19.04.2026 Understand stemming in SQL Server to become a better DBA In this sunday post, I’ll show you how leveraging SQL Server's stemming capabilities can drastically improve your full-text search accuracy and reduce complex query overhead. Stop writing endless OR clauses and start letting the engine do the heavy lifting for you! TL;DR ✔️ Stemming reduces words to their root form to find all grammatical variations ✔️ FORMSOF(INFLECTIONAL, ...) eliminates the need for massive LIKE or OR chains ✔️ Full-Text Search language settings dictate whether stemming works 🌍 ✔️ You can query sys.fulltext_languages to check your instance's support...

Before we dive into today's topic, if you missed my previous post:    SQL Server 2025 CU3 vs CU4: Has Microsoft Really Fixed the SESSION_CONTEXT Issue? Test Day 1   .  👉  If you found this deep-dive helpful, feel free to check out the ads—your support helps me keep creating high-quality SQL Server content for the community. SQL Server 2025 CU4: Does JSON_CONTAINS Break Your Queries? Test Day 2 In this post, I’ll show you why a seemingly minor fix to JSON_CONTAINS in SQL Server 2025 CU4 might suddenly break your production workloads. Don't let silent logic errors ruin your uptime. Here is how to test and bulletproof your code! TL;DR ✔️ KB 5029490 limits the JSON_CONTAINS comparison mode strictly to 0 or 1 🛠️ ✔️ Mode 0 enforces an Exact Match, while Mode 1 allows Pattern Matching 🧩 ✔️ Parameterized queries face the highest risk of breaking changes upon upgrading to CU4 ⚠️ Hi SQL SERVER Guys, We all know how important it is to make every...

🚀 SQL Server 2025 CU3 vs CU4: Has Microsoft Fixed the SESSION_CONTEXT Issue? Test Day 1 Before diving in, if you miss my latest post take a look here:  SQL SERVER 2025 CU4 Is OUT!    👉  If you found this deep-dive helpful, feel free to check out the ads—your support helps me keep creating high-quality SQL Server content for the community. 17.04.2026

SQL SERVER 2025 CU4 Is OUT! A Hot Take on the New Features 👉 If you missed my latest posts on the new SSMS 22.5: Test Day 2: SSMS 22.5 Copilot & Extended Events (Stop Digging into .XEL Files!) Test Day 1: SSMS 22.5 Copilot vs. Complex Execution Plans (Spoiler: It saves you hours) If you found this deep-dive helpful, feel free to check out the ads—your support helps me keep creating high-quality SQL Server content for the community. 16.04.2026 💡 The Hook SQL Server 2025 CU4 IS OUT. In this post, I’ll start to break down what really matters in this CU.  What can break or save your production environment.  So, if you care about stability , parallelism bugs , and hidden engine fixes … you MUST read this. ⚡ TL;DR ✔️ 11 critical fixes targeting engine stability, HA, and JSON behavior 🛠️ ✔️ Dangerous bug in SESSION_CONTEXT with parallel plans ⚠️ ✔️ Improvements in SQLPAL, Full-Text Search, and replication reliability 🔧 ✔️ Multiple fixes that prevent cra...

Before we dive in, catch up on the previous episodes of my SSMS 22.5 deep-dive: 🔗 SQL Server: SSMS 22.5.0 Changes How You Work 🔗 Test Day 1: SSMS 22.5 Copilot vs. Complex Execution Plans In this post, I’ll show you how the brand-new GitHub Copilot integration in SSMS 22.5.0 instantly translates thousands of cryptic Extended Events XML rows into clear, actionable performance insights . Stop wasting hours parsing .xel files and let AI pinpoint your database deadlocks in seconds! TL;DR: What's New with XEvents & AI ✔️ Semantic Log Analysis: Copilot now summarizes .xel files, identifying recurring error patterns instantly. 🔍 ✔️ "Natural Language" XEvents: Create new monitoring sessions simply by describing what you want to track. ✍️ ✔️ Deadlock Visualizer 2.0: The AI graphically explains blocking chains and suggests optimal isolation levels. ⛓️ ✔️ UI Stability: Improved rendering of t...

Before we start, catch up on my previous performance tuning deep-dives:  SQL Server: SSMS 22.5.0 Changes How You Work   Test Day 1: SSMS 22.5 Copilot vs. Complex Execution Plans (Spoiler: It saves you hours) In this post, I’ll show you exactly how the brand-new SSMS 22.5.0 Copilot integration reads execution plans to cut your performance tuning workflow in half. Don’t miss this day-one field test to see if AI can truly optimize your bottlenecks! ✔️ Copilot now interacts directly with the result pane, including execution plans and statistics. 🛠️ ✔️ Identifies hidden bottlenecks like implicit conversions and expensive table scans in seconds. ⏱️ ✔️ Data privacy matters: Ensure your Copilot tier matches your corporate security policies. 🔒 ✔️ Minor bugs fixed: SSMS 22.5.0 stabilizes DTA and Extended Events filter behaviors. ✔️ Hi SQL Server Guys, We all know how important it is to make every second count when managing SQL Server environments. Yesterday, April 14...