Last Friday I spent my lunch break going through some links I had marked for future reading. One of them was a post earlier this month by Erik Darling about a new troubleshooting tool he made called “sp_pressure_detector,” including a video showing how to use it.

Why yes, I do often spend my lunch breaks watching videos of folks executing queries. Is it really so strange?

Anyhow, Darling’s tool is designed to provide five data sets showing a quick view of memory and processor usage based on several dynamic management views (DMVs). It’s gives you a quick look into what’s going on when the CPU and/or memory of your SQL Server instance are feeling discomfort.

Why do I mention this? Because little did I know the very next day I would be presented with a fine opportunity to use this tool. And by opportunity I mean a server on fire. (Well, not literally, but still…)

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FUN FACT: I have been a Microsoft Certified Professional for SQL Server for over 20 years. Second FUN FACT: the last time I took a Microsoft certification exam was 1999. Add these two together and you can probably deduce I had most recently passed exams relating to SQL Server 7.0

Oddly enough, I am 100% sure these facts have no current bearing on my abilities or career prospects.

Anyhow, after contemplating how in 2019 I had completed my university studies (at long last!) and had started presenting sessions relating to SQL Server, I decided the next challenge to tackle would be passing some current Microsoft certification exams. I figured if I am going to be speaking about the subject publicly I should probably see if I needed to fill in some knowledge gaps.

As it turned out preparing and passing the first exam took me just a handful of weeks. If you’ve recently considered taking this exam yourself, let me share with you how I did this.

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