If you are not the only one who takes care of the backups, knowing the backups taken recently is very crucial for a production DBA.  Read more...

Many shops do full backups of their databases as part of a job within SQL Agent, typically as part of a maintenance plan. This job will often times do all database backups in secession. As such, while you may know how long the job takes, you may not know how long any one particular database takes to have a full backup taken.   Read more...

This script finds the first error on all Sprocs, Functions, Triggers and Views in a database. Works in SQL Server 2005 and 2008  Read more...

One of the most common questions asked about SQL Server has to do with the transaction log and why does it grow. James Rea brings us a good explanation here of what happens and what you should do about it.  Read more...

I couldn't find a solid script for this so I put this together. It creates the database EXACTLY as it was with growth and proper file groups.  Read more...

This article shows how the COPY_ONLY clause can be used to ensure that an ad-hoc database backup do not break the backup sequence  Read more...

Is it possible to change the default directory for backups, so it does not need to be specified each time I run a backup?  Read more...

One very handy technique for dealing with the need to copy or move a database involves detaching the database from your instance. MVP Brian Knight shows how easy this can be to perform on your server.  Read more...

We have a new author at SQLServerCentral.com, Muthusamy Anantha Kumar AKA The MAK, who starts a new series on the basics that a DBA needs to know. This installment walks over basic backup and restore.  Read more...

SQL Server trainer and longtime expert, Andy Warren brings us a great article on one basic skill that every DBA should know.  Read more...

This query gives you an idea of the growth of your database over time.  Read more...

Read more...

Read more...

Describes how data changes for differential backups are recorded using dbcc page  Read more...

DTS is an incredible package for moving data in the SQL Server world. One feature that is missing, however, is the ability to send files using FTP to a remote server. This article looks at a technique for sending files via FTP.   Read more...

Chris (one of our regulars!) installed Log Explorer and took it for a test drive. Written up in our standard review format this will give you a very quick overview of what the product does.   Read more...

This articles makes the case for using SQL LiteSpeed over other backup solutions and presents some notes about why the DBA should manage backups rather than offloading to network administration.   Read more...

A monster book at 980 pages, it's written in 'how-to' format and has a ton of good material. Andy gave it the once over for us and reports back - see what he thinks!   Read more...

This article by new contributing member Bob Musser shows you how to reduce the amount of scans that SQL Server Agent does against databases. Not for the faint of heart.   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...