If you need to connect to a SQL server and don't have the 'sa' password plus the builtin\administrators account has been removed then Rudy Panigas shows us what you need to know.   Read more...

How can you delete only some duplicates? Without Identity's, Temp tables, Cursors, loops or ROW_NUMBER()? Would you believe, go back to the 70's?  Read more...

Build List Updated with Cumulative Update 16 for SP2 and CU 6 for SP3.   Read more...

A new article from Paul Els looks at managing free space on your database servers by finding detached databases and old backup files.  Read more...

Examining what has already occurred, while valuable in some cases is most likely not as important as what is currently taxing your server. This being the case, how do you examine the currently executing statement for each of the requests issued against your SQL Server instance?  Read more...

In this tip we take a look at a few ways to find the current free space within a database, so you can better manage your database files.  Read more...

Rolling out SQL Servers is a key task for DBAs, this articles provides 12 essential post-installation steps.  Read more...

The process to return the last query statement executed is quite straight-forward and works in all versions of Microsoft SQL Server since DMOs (dynamic management objects) were integrated into SQL Server.   Read more...

Paul S. Randal answers your SQL questions: How can I tell when there’s a checksum problem without waiting until the monthly maintenance plan? Is it true that using a GUID as the clustered index key can lead to performance issues with indexes? How can I choose the correct recovery model? And more!  Read more...

Tweaking SQL Server memory settings to provide support for managed code.   Read more...

I am planning on moving the SQL Server log file of my production database on this drive. I am curious about how it will optimize the performance. What are some of the considerations I should take into account and how can I move the SQL Server database log file to a separate physical location?  Read more...

The final article on Change Management examines the more technical aspects of Change Management.   Read more...

Changing a database an integral and crucial part in every application's life cycle. Part 1 of this series looks at the steps and procedures prior to implementing the change  Read more...

Build List Updated with Cumulative Update 16 for SP2 and CU 6 for SP3.   Read more...

As background, I've never been a fan of multiple instances. It's a useful thing to have available and I use it on a server today, but it's never provided a solid way of isolating resources for each instance. Next, one of the things I evangelize...  Read more...

In Part 2 of our series we will examine how to create custom templates and how to save collected trace data.  Read more...

Many DBAs at some point have had to deal with a full transaction log. Check out these steps for finding the cause to quickly solve the problem.  Read more...

An article from new author Lokesh Gunjugnur that shows how you can set up tracking for database growth on multiple servers and creating custom reports in Excel.  Read more...

Learn why ALTER DATABASE should be preferred over Detach/Attach for moving database files on the same SQL Server from MVP Jonathan Kehayias.  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...

If you need to connect to a SQL server and don't have the 'sa' password plus the builtin\administrators account has been removed then Rudy Panigas shows us what you need to know.   Read more...

This article describes a utility that allows you to identify what SQL statements are currently executing.  Read more...

How can you delete only some duplicates? Without Identity's, Temp tables, Cursors, loops or ROW_NUMBER()? Would you believe, go back to the 70's?  Read more...