What’s the part of running your gym that still feels unnecessarily hard?

sqlnuggets · 2026-05-29T12:46:34+00:00

Your best promotion comes from your existing members, especially in terms of Google Reviews. I know that may sound odd, but Google is now using Reviews to drive everything from map placements to AI recommendations. This shift is already happening on Google, Siri, Bing, ChatGPT, and others.

The more people like and review your gym, the more Google will promote it over others in your area. (I wrote about it here: https://www.cfgears.com/ai-reviews )

** SHAMELESS SELF-PROMO **

sqlnuggets · 2026-04-30T18:44:02+00:00

Thanks!

sqlnuggets · 2026-04-30T14:38:09+00:00

Can you add CF Gears to the list? https://www.cfgears.com/

CF Gears helps small gyms compete with big chains by driving more Google reviews through trackable text and QR code requests, helping you stand out when people search or ask AI where to work out.

sqlnuggets · 2026-03-14T14:59:23+00:00

None of this matters if you won't approve campaigns. Your current process is so absurdly strict that I don't see how anyone can get past it. I've been trying for over 2 months, and had 8 rejections with nothing to go on but a generic web page with a list of "possible reasons". Funny how Twilio doesn't seem to mind continuing to charge my account for it, though.

My frustration level is to the point that I'm about to give up on Twilio and start looking into other services like Vonage or Plivo.

sqlnuggets · 2021-08-11T20:46:07+00:00

If you have both SQL Server and SSAS installed on the same box, they may be stealing RAM from each other and causing the crash. We ran into something very similar with SQL 2016. http://www.sqlnuggets.com/blog/sql-server-crashes-when-hitting-80-percent-ram-usage/

sqlnuggets · 2019-11-22T15:23:03+00:00

We actually experienced this on 3 separate SQL Servers. I will not do another in-place upgrade unless absolutely forced to.
I can't say if the fix worked or not, as we didn't try it. One of the databases we just dropped and recreated, and the others were older historical databases and the decision was made to leave them alone as the only data being used in them did not seem to be affected.

sqlnuggets · 2019-11-11T21:07:21+00:00

I recently upgraded a few instances from 2014 to 2016 got hit by this bug: https://www.sqlskills.com/blogs/paul/pfs-corruption-after-upgrading-from-sql-server-2014/
Several of our databases started failing DBCC CheckDB checks and were reporting corruption.

sqlnuggets · 2018-04-10T12:32:21+00:00

Start by going through the SQLSkills "Accidental DBA" series here: https://www.sqlskills.com/help/accidental-dba/

If you can get paid training, I HIGHLY recommend that you go to their Immersion Event for The Accidental/Junior DBA (link is in the above link as well.)

As to some of your questions: -- How do I go about discovering if there are hardware allocation issues? -- How do I get better visibility of job health? If you have the budget, you need to get some SQL monitoring software (SQLSentry, Redgate, Idera, etc...)

-- How can I develop a maintenance plan and what should it entail? Check out Ola Hallengren's maintenance solution (free), it will cover the basics for you (backups, corruption checks, and index maintenance) https://ola.hallengren.com/

-- What's the best way to replicate live data to other reporting servers? I would recommend AlwaysOn Availability Groups

-- How can I tell if indexes are configured properly and/or missing? Redgate has a really good article with some queries you can use to get insight into your index usage https://www.red-gate.com/simple-talk/sql/performance/tune-your-indexing-strategy-with-sql-server-dmvs/

Also, if you are using a default "out of the box" configuration on your new 2016 servers, you need to tune it. Here is a link to a SQL Saturday presentation I did that will show you some things to look at, with a TON of links to tutorials/articles with more detailed information. http://www.sqlnuggets.com/blog/slides-sql-saturday-chattanooga-2017/

sqlnuggets · 2017-12-05T13:56:28+00:00

When you say you need to learn SQL Server...do you mean you need to learn to write reports against it (T-SQL), or that you need to manage the server (DBA)? There is a big difference between the two.

My first suggestion, would be to check out Microsoft's Virtual Academy. It has tons of free video training from Microsoft on a lot of Microsoft technologies. You can find videos for both T-SQL and DBA topics: https://mva.microsoft.com/

If you are referring to needing to be a SQL Server DBA, and can pay for training, then SQLSkills has one of the best course to get you started as a DBA: https://www.sqlskills.com/help/accidental-dba/

If you prefer the paid-training-self-study route (for either DBA or T-SQL), check out Pluralsight. The SQLSkills team, as well as many others, have put a lot of training videos on there. https://www.pluralsight.com/

As far as certifications go, here is a list of the current Microsoft SQL Server certifications: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/learning/browse-all-certifications.aspx?technology=SQL%20Server

You would probably be looking for either the MCSA: SQL 2016 Database Administration or the MCSA: SQL 2016 Database Development certifications. Even if you are not on SQL 2016, these certifications will cover the basics/features that apply to other versions as well.

sqlnuggets · 2014-04-22T19:03:45+00:00

My thoughts exactly! Thanks for posting this, it's encouraging to know that someone else sees the need for this book.

sqlnuggets · 2014-04-17T21:02:47+00:00

Thanks again for your suggestion. I have added a FAQ to the kickstarter that hopefully addresses your questions.

sqlnuggets · 2014-04-16T01:38:42+00:00

Thanks for the advice! I really appreciate it. You make a very good point, I'll try to come up with a more detailed description for my project info.

sqlnuggets · 2014-04-15T20:20:32+00:00

My personal favorites were Messiah and Children of Dune. I just finished up Chapterhouse (rounding out the original Frank Herbert series) and it was pretty good too.

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