Expert Performance Tuning for SQL Server 2016 & 2017

2018

TL; DR

Your job is making SQL Server go faster, but you haven’t been to a performance tuning class since 2016 came out.

Session Details

Your job is making SQL Server go faster, but you haven’t been to a performance tuning class since 2016 came out. You’ve heard things have gotten way better with 2016 and 2017, but you haven’t had the chance to dig into the new plan cache tools, DMVs, adaptive joins, and wait stats updates.

In one fun-filled day, Brent Ozar and Erik Darling will future-proof your tuning skills. You’ll learn our most in-depth techniques to tune SQL Server leveraging DMVs, query plans, sp_BlitzCache, and sp_BlitzFirst. You’ll find your server’s bottleneck, identify the right queries to tune, and understand why they’re killing your server.

You’ll go back to the office with free scripts, great ideas, and even a plan to convince the business to upgrade to SQL Server 2016 or 2017 ASAP.

Can’t upgrade to 2016? We’ll even show you memory grant and compilation tracking tricks that work in newer service packs for 2012 and 2014.

Pre-requisites
This is not an introductory class: you should have 2-3 years of experience with SQL Server, reading execution plans, and working on making your queries go faster.
Laptop Required:Yes

Spec: If you bring a laptop with SQL Server 2016 and 120GB free space, you can follow along with us in the Stack Overflow database, too.
Software: SQL Server 2016 SP1 or newer
Subscriptions: No

3 things you'll get out of this session

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AI in Your Career: Sidekick, Hero, or Villain? - 2026

Calling AI from T-SQL: Real-Life Lessons from sp_BlitzCache - 2026

Pokémon Battle, Choose Your Index: You Can’t Have Them All - 2026

The Big Red Button: How to Use sp_Kill - 2026

Watch Brent Tune a Query in SQL Server 2025 - 2026

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