Can you link to more than one (eg. sybase) server?

A great article, but something worth noting is that when a query is executed against a linked server using "select stuff from linkedServer.dbName.owner.objectName" SQL Server actually returns all the rows from the table(s) in the linked server and the executes the query locally (using T-SQL syntax), whereas when you use the OpenQuery() syntax the query is passed down to the linked server and only the result set is returned, this means that OpenQuery() needs to use the native syntax of the linked server rather than t-sql (assuming it's not a SQL Server!).  This was my experience at least and if I'm slightly off the mark then I'd welcome further comment.

Thanks for an interesting article

one more note: Link server does not support access on SQL Server 2005 64 bit

mom

Very basic article. Even so it is explained in the article header, I would like to add that linked servers were available from SQL 7(or 6.5?) and did not change on introductory level since.

I would also assume that in SQL 7 processinf heterogenous queries had more flexibility than in SQL 2005. I would expect from SQLservercentral publications more indpeth, detailed coverage.

Very good article.

Good introduction.  I expect more in-depth articles on this subject to follow.

I have used this to attach, remote SQL servers, Access databases, and even text files.  I have even heard of attaching DB-400 through Client Access.

Somebody asked about multiples.  Yes you can.