I'm needing to audit the permissions in my databases, but I want to script them out so I have something to run in case of a recovery situation. I've got the logins, roles, and users handled, but it's the permissions that I want to extract. How can I do this easily?  Read more...

Today Steve Jones reminds us that the small disasters are likely to occur, and that you need to be sure that you're planning for them, and practicing for the recovery that will be needed.  Read more...

Take your peers out of their comfort zone and do you know how well they'll perform?   Read more...

Longtime author Leo Peysakhovich has implemented a log shipping mechanism that can recover from failures and give you control over how it works. Read on if you want to implement your own version of log shipping and have control over all aspects of the process.  Read more...

The need to archive data is becoming more and more important as data sizes grow. However when you choose to archive data, you might need to reconsider how your DR plan is structured.  Read more...

Dave Lumley presents a Reporting services disaster recovery solution for SQL Server Standard Edition, using 2 servers. Worth the read if you don't run Enterprise.  Read more...

There are some skills which are extensions of your instincts, and which you can only learn though years of experience. Matt Simmons has this brought home by the fact that he was recently minutes away from a data-loss disaster, and he doesn't quite know how he prevented it.  Read more...

Your response in a crisis situation can be critical to how quickly you solve the issue. Steve Jones reminds you to stay calm in today's editorial.  Read more...

Today we have a guest editorial from Grant Fritchey. The Boy Scouts motto is "be prepared" and most of you probably unconsciously follow that in your daily lives. Why is it that so many of us don't follow through on this same advice with our databases? Grant Fritchey gives a few examples of how you should "be prepared" for a database emergency.  Read more...

There are many ways to perform disaster recovery with Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS). Based upon customer experience and internal testing, this technical note provides guidance around best practices to design and manage robust end-to-end disaster recovery (DR). This DR method will involve both automatic and manual failover in the form of content switches, SQL Server failover clustering, and database mirroring. This case study focuses on the lessons learned from CareGroup Healthcare System.  Read more...

The DBA news of the week contains some interesting thoughts on DR and virtualization plans. Steve Jones comments on why you should care about these topics.  Read more...

This article describes how to use Microsoft SQL Server 2005 or Microsoft SQL Server 2008 log shipping to create a disaster recovery farm in a geographically distributed data center for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 with Service Pack 2 (SP2). By using this configuration, you can provide a disaster recovery site that provides current search results when a failover occurs. The article assumes that you are familiar with the concepts and terms presented in Plan for availability (Office SharePoint Server).  Read more...

Part 2 of the SQL Server Essentials Series looks at why you should be using the Full Recovery Model to protect your data assets.  Read more...

High-Availability depends on how quickly you can recover a production system after an incident that has caused a failure. This requires planning, and documentation. If you get a Disaster Recovery Plan wrong, it can make an incident into a catastrophe for the business. Hugo Shebbeare discusses some essentials, describes a typical system, and provides sample documentation.  Read more...

Rodney Landrum has lived through several simulated emergencies and one real one, in the form of Hurricane Ivan. The tests do not adequately prepare you for the real thing. Real emergencies bring tension, exhaustion and hunger pangs. Simulations bring lethargy, pre-determined end times, and warm pizza.  Read more...

Many articles on database administration take the perspective of trying to help you do your job better. We thought we might take a different tack and poke a little fun at some of more egregious mistakes we've seen over the years at IT shops.   Read more...

Let's say it is a late Monday morning, because something always comes up before you are required at your vocation,...  Read more...

James DiMauro brings us a story of how a transaction log was deleted and then recreated. (from July 2008)  Read more...

Disaster Recovery is always ranked by DBAs and managers as one of the most important things to have set up. Yet many people working with databases don't spend time on this. Steve Jones has a few comments from the news this week.  Read more...

Are tape systems obsolete? A recent incident has Steve Jones thinking perhaps not.  Read more...