The .NET Framework 2.0 and Visual Studio 2005 make it easy to create a basic but extensible database-monitoring solution without a lot of complexity or coding.   Read more...

One of our favorite authors is back with a great how-to on log shipping. This isn't the baked in log shipping, this is a code your own solution that gives you a starting point for your situation. Even if you don't need it now, it's worth looking at to gain a better understanding of how shipping works.   Read more...

Andy recently implemented a SAN and shares some of the info he picked up during the purchase and implementation. This article also discusses briefly the differences between SAN and NAS, and has some links to other sites for more info as well.   Read more...

Standards are important in the computer business, both the hardware and software side. After looking at Coding Standards in a previous series, Steve Jones looks at the server side of standards beginning with hardware.   Read more...

Andy had a semi-disaster similar to the one he wrote about last year. Interesting to see the kinds of problems that happen to other people. This article raises some interesting points that are outside the scope of basic disaster recovery, looking at how/when to move databases to a different server and how to reduce the server load dynamically.   Read more...

Back in April Steve Jones wrote up a disaster at work. Andy had one this week and wrote up the story too. Copy cat! Pretty soon everyone will be having a disaster and writing a story about it! Give these guys credit for letting you see what happens when it ALL goes bad. Disaster recovery is hard to sell and hard to do, reading the article might give you an idea that will save you some time and/or data one day.   Read more...

This article addresses some common questions about the Log Shipping tool for Microsoft SQL Server 7.0.   Read more...

Lots of people are designing and building Microsoft Windows-based apps with previously unimagined reliability. Starbucks, GMAC, and FreeMarkets.com all have case studies demonstrating five nines. So, how are these companies able to achieve these levels of reliability?This month I am going to show you how to use standard Microsoft Windows technologies to make your Microsoft SQL Server™ app just like Denny's—“always open” and ready for business.   Read more...

A good place to start before clustering. Written by Brad McGhee, the founder of sql-server-performance.com.  Read more...