The scheduling system in SQL Server is quite flexible and powerful, but can be confusing at times. Peter He looks at some of the advanced options you have in automating the various jobs on your server.   Read more...

Check Orphaned logins ie, not associated with any database on the current instance.  Read more...

One day, you may need to change those service credentials under which your SQL Server services normally run. If you have a number of servers, then you'll really want to read about Rodney's solution.   Read more...

Haidong discusses the importance of monitoring disk usage over a period of time and has some great TSQL code to help you do the monitoring!   Read more...

Building on his first article examining management of a large server farm, Mark Tierney brings us part 2 in which he examines the data gathering process.   Read more...

Greg Larsen examines setting up SQL Server to listen on a different port number than 1433.   Read more...

Part 3 of Steve Jones' series on beginning SQL Server from the perspective of a system administrator or someone not used to working with SQL Server. If you've been designated the new administrator, take a look at this series for some help in coming up to speed on this product. This article looks at logins and basic security.   Read more...

When your database transaction log is out of control, there is only one man who can tame it.   Read more...

SQL Server 2000 trace flags can dramatically alter the behavior and functionality of the server. There are a number of ways that they can be enabled and Chris Hedgate brings us a tutorial on their use and benefits.   Read more...

Have you ever misconfigured your SQL Server's memory and been unable to start it? That happened to new author Jay Dave, who has the Data Center edition of SQL Server 2000 with a whopping 36GB of RAM. Here's how to get your instance back up and running.   Read more...

SQL Server includes a great auditing tool: Profiler. It's not the easiest tool to use, however, and it's one that takes some getting used to. Our resident security export, Brian Kelley looks at a simple example of using this tool to audit logins.   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...

Keeping track of your DDL is something that is critical and some sort of VCS system should be used. However pulling out your scripts from SQL Server sometimes entails a bit more than the standard scripting. New author Richard Sutherland brings us an open source project that can help you get this done. Complete with code.   Read more...

In this article, Brian looks at how Citrix MetaFrame can use SQL Server for its internal data repository. The basic operation of SQL Server in a Citrix MetaFrame installation is covered. In addition, Brian looks at how a DBA is an integral part of the support team for a successful Citrix MetaFrame farm.   Read more...

This article covers the basics of full backup backups and restores in SQL Server. The examples are from SQL Server 2005 however it applies to SQL Server 2000 and SQL Server 2005. This is a very basic article covering full database backups, database restores and the simple and full recovery models.   Read more...

Pop Rivett tackles a torn page in a suspect database.  Read more...

As a SQL Server DBA you should know that your code is stored in syscomments by default. While most DBAs use version control systems, there are times you might want to look through the code on the server for comparison purposes. Robert Cary brings us an article on how you can do this in 2000 and 2005.   Read more...

Monitoring your servers for issues and alerts is something every DBA should be doing on a regular basis. However even with a small number of servers, a DBA can easily be overwhelmed if some level of automation is not implemented. Thomas LaRock brings us a method of scanning your error logs automatically and notifying the DBA of problems.   Read more...

Most DBAs are constantly looking for ways to tune their servers to run better. Joe Doherty brings us the second part of his series on indexes with an in depth look at how the indexes are stored in your database.   Read more...

EFS provides a mechanism for encrypting files completely transparent to higher level applications such as SQL Server. In this article by Brian Kelley, he shows you how to implement this type of security in your environment.   Read more...