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...

We're curious to see what our readers have to say about this one! How many of us have tables accruing data that won't be used and/or isn't of any value? At what point do we get rid of it to free up resources?   Read more...

In this follow up to one of our most popular articles, Andy responds to comments posted by readers and discusses how to manage SQL logins effectively in your applications.   Read more...

In this follow up article Andy looks at how maintenance plans report errors and how they actually accomplish what they do. A little snooping with Profiler reveals all!   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...

Version control for stored procedures isn't always popular and certainly isn't easy. Or can it be? Andy discusses a technique he used on a recent project that you might find interesting.   Read more...

Continuing with the Worst Practices Series: Steve Jones examines why encryption in the database is a bad idea.   Read more...

The major part of the article, however, is dedicated to a topic that often confuses people and leads to some of the strongest disagreements among IT professionals and developers: the benefits and drawbacks of enforcing security in the middle (or business) tier versus the data tier.   Read more...

One of the common questions that Brian Knight sees in the newsgroups is what is a DBA officially supposed to be doing? In this article, Brian covers the many hats a DBA can and does wear.   Read more...

Ever have a large batch of scripts you need to run? It takes a while if you have to open each one in Query Analyzer and execute it. One of our readers proposed an alternative - take a look the small app Andy Warren wrote to make doing this task a breeze.   Read more...

An introductory article from Microsoft on the newest version of SQL Server: SQL Server CE designed for Windows CE devices. Includes some ideas for where this version fits in your architecture.   Read more...