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...

Sizing a database can be one of the most arduous tasks a DBA, analyst or developer must attend to. It?s time consuming and more hours go into analyzing the database than actually sizing it. This article focuses on how to monitor the database?s growth after its deployed and contains some tips on how to size it before deployment. We will also dive a little into how to benchmark your database against a robust data load.   Read more...

What's the best way to change the default backup directory for a server, using SSMS or Enterprise Manager, without changing all the default directories at the same time? What is the TSQL to do it? A prize for the best correct solution.  Read more...

The SQL Server tools are top notch and often other platforms attempt to duplicate their handiness. Enterprise Manager is one that every DBA uses and it can perform a myriad of functions to configure your server. Read this new article by Dale Elizabeth Corey that looks that the wide range of items in the Configuration Properties of this tool.   Read more...

Sizing a database can be one of the most arduous tasks a DBA, analyst or developer must attend to. It?s time consuming and more hours go into analyzing the database than actually sizing it. This article focuses on how to monitor the database?s growth after its deployed and contains some tips on how to size it before deployment. We will also dive a little into how to benchmark your database against a robust data load.   Read more...

Attaching and detaching databases is old hat these days right? Do you know how to reattach a database that has more than 16 files? Or do you know what happens if you try to reattach a database that had two log files but one is missing/deleted? And even if you know the answer to that - do you know how to fix it without restoring from backup? Maybe it's not ALL old hat just yet!   Read more...

How do you easily copy DTS packages from one server to another? DTS, BCP, T-SQL? Are there advantages to using one method over another? Andy did some research - read the article and see what works and what doesn't!   Read more...

Service Pack 3 for SQL Server 2000 is huge. There are significant changes in it and they apply to all three products: the core SQL Server, MSDE, and Analysis Services. Because there are so many changes, this first article in the series will only focus on the security changes.   Read more...

In part one Chris Kempster covered a variety of security recommendations primarily for production systems. In Part two of this series he continues to explore security at a variety of levels where you may not realize you are vulnerable.   Read more...

As a DBA you do not need to know how to setup an Active Directory domain or a DNS server, but you still need to know how Kerberos, Service Principle Names, and hostnames are used to perform integrated authentication to a SQL Server. This article by new columnist Chad Miller shows you some of the more integral parts of troubleshooting running Windows Authentication security in a SQL Server environmnet.   Read more...

Article number four in this popular series continues exposing Worst Practices! This week Andy continues his tirade by talking about why case sensitive databases should be BANNED from the planet. Is he right or just OUT OF CONTROL? Read the article and join the discussion - your comment may lead to an article, that's what generated this one!   Read more...

Do you use the maintenance plans or hate them? Wish they would do more? Curious about how they work under the hood? Cmon, you gotta read this one! Trust us, it's not another "how-to" article! Well, maybe just a little bit!   Read more...

Mindy explores the metadata stored in SQL 2000 to show you how to produce a simple and useful data dictionary!   Read more...

In this article, Brian Kelley continues his series on Query Analyzer for SQL Server 2000. Query Analyzer offers a highly configurable integrated development environment (IDE). Some of the areas Brian looks at are how to modify the fonts and colors, set connection settings, choose scripting options, and customizing file and result set options. Learn how to make the most of the IDE and make it work for you.   Read more...

The SQL Server tools are top notch and often other platforms attempt to duplicate their handiness. Enterprise Manager is one that every DBA uses and it can perform a myriad of functions to configure your server. Read this new article by Dale Elizabeth Corey that looks that the wide range of items in the Configuration Properties of this tool.   Read more...

Good enough for your bookshelf? This one meets that requirement for Brian, click the link to find out why.   Read more...

Do you have the need for more speed on your servers? How do you go about squeezing more speed out of the database when faced with an upgrade? Steve Jones walks through some of his thought process when looking at ugprade for one of his servers.   Read more...

In part one Chris Kempster covered a variety of security recommendations primarily for production systems. In Part two of this series he continues to explore security at a variety of levels where you may not realize you are vulnerable.   Read more...

Andy continues writing about replication, this week discussing the many options available when creating a snapshot publication. As we noted on his last article, this one may take longer than usual to load due the large number of images but we think the readability of having it all one page is worth while.   Read more...

We've asked Andy to put together some articles that tackle replication from a beginner perspective, a tutorial type approach PLUS comments on what you should or should not do. This week he covers the steps needed to set up a server for replication. More images than usual so the page may take a little longer to load, but we think worthwhile so that you can see every step along the way. Let us know what you think.   Read more...