Paul White

Paul White (@SQL_Kiwi) is an independent SQL Server technical consultant with 15 years experience, specializing in performance tuning the SQL Server Core Engine, and is well known for his expertise in execution plans, the query processor, and the query optimizer. Currently living in New Zealand, Paul writes the SQL Server internals blog Page Free Space at SQLblog.com. Over the years, Paul has worked internationally on a number of high-volume critical systems where ultimate performance and reliability were the primary goals. A recently re-awarded SQL Server MVP, he contributes regularly to a range of web sites and forums, including Stack Exchange, SQL Server Central, SimpleTalk, and MSDN. Paul also speaks at a variety of user groups and community events such as SQL Saturdays and the annual SQL Pass Summit.

Another Reason to Use NOEXPAND hints in Enterprise Edition

Posted by Paul White on December 30, 2015 3 Responses »

Dec 302015

Paul White (@SQL_Kiwi) goes into detail about another reason you'll want to use the NOEXPAND hint, even when using Enterprise Edition.

Optimizing Update Queries

Posted by Paul White on December 16, 2015 3 Responses »

Dec 162015

Paul White (@SQL_Kiwi) spends some time optimizing update queries in order to explore some SQL Server internals.

Hash Joins on Nullable Columns

Posted by Paul White on November 3, 2015 11 Responses »

Nov 032015

Paul White (@SQL_Kiwi) discusses some less well-known query optimizer features and limitations, and explains poor performance of certain hash joins.

Interesting things about INSTEAD OF triggers

Posted by Paul White on September 11, 2015 7 Responses »

Sep 112015

Paul White (@SQL_Kiwi) discusses some things to know about INSTEAD OF triggers – from execution plans and worktables to a cardinality estimation bug in SQL 2014.

Improving the Top / Top Descending Median Solution

Posted by Paul White on August 6, 2015 2 Responses »

Aug 062015

Back in January 2015, my good friend and fellow SQL Server MVP Rob Farley wrote about a novel solution to the problem of finding the median in SQL Server versions prior to 2012. As well as being an interesting read by itself, it turns out to be a great example to use to demonstrate some

Improving the Row Numbering Median Solution

Posted by Paul White on July 28, 2015 2 Responses »

Jul 282015

Paul White (@SQL_Kiwi) takes another look at medians, this time describing how a locking hint can help improve the performance of a pre-2012 solution.

Locking and Performance

Posted by Paul White on July 20, 2015 1 Response »

Jul 202015

Paul White (@SQL_Kiwi) follows up a great post on calculating medians with some information on how locking can affect query performance, often undetected.

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