How a transaction log was deleted and then recreated.  Read more...

So, how do you prepare for a master rebuild and what do you do afterwards? Hopefully this checklist will give you an idea.  Read more...

SQL Server high availability. Log shipping or replication, clustering or some other solution. It's a challenge and as companies grow more dependent on their databases, it's one that more and more DBAs face everyday. Paul Ibison has taken a look at how log shipping and replication can be compared in the quest for high availability.   Read more...

The CLR has not been well-received and most people use it for Regular Expressions and string functions. Here is an example that goes beyond trivial uses.  Read more...

Have you seen disasters in your environment? I would bet you have at some point. Let's see if our top 13 disasters matches your experiences.  Read more...

Reduce your recovery time and minimize the chance for error by resolving all logins in one script.  Read more...

In this next article of the SQL Server in the Enterprise Series, we'll explore how to cluster Windows 2000 and SQL Server 2000 in a step-by-step manner. After this article, you should be able to cluster a SQL Server 2000 machine for failover availability in an Active/Active cluster.   Read more...

We're featuring some interesting blog posts that we think have information you need to know. This one is from Paul Randal of SQL Skills, former storage engine lead for SQL Server. Do you know how the daylight savings time change will affect your computers?  Read more...

Most DBAs dread hearing that they need to restore a database to a point in time, especially if the database is a production database. However, knowing how to do this is of the utmost importance for a DBA's skill set. I'll walk you through the steps of how to restore a SQL Server database to a point in time to recover a data table.  Read more...

Learn about 13 production disasters that can bring down your business  Read more...

In response to an editorial on eliminating tape in favor of disk backups, new author Tim OPry brings us a look at his environment and the process by which they eliminated the need for tape in their backup scheme while maintaining a well thought out disaster plan.   Read more...

While no disaster recovery plan provides ironclad protection, your company will be far less vulnerable to an extended business disruption from a disaster with a plan than without one.  Read more...

In the first part of his series on SQL Server Availability, new author Kumar Parthasarathi brings us a look at Database Snapshots in SQL Server 2005.   Read more...

Learn how to use ALERTs, a SQL Agent job and a stored procedure (SP) to create a copy of your critical database backups on another physical machine as soon as the database backups are created.  Read more...

Knowing how to configure backup applications and select backup media is half the battle of designing a successful backup strategy. The other half is choosing how and when to back up the specific pieces of data that are stored on your servers, share points, and workstations. In this final article of his series on backup basics for new technicians and administrators, Ryan Faas offers some suggestions to help you make these important decisions.  Read more...

SQL Server high availability. Log shipping or replication, clustering or some other solution. It's a challenge and as companies grow more dependent on their databases, it's one that more and more DBAs face everyday. Paul Ibison has taken a look at how log shipping and replication can be compared in the quest for high availability.   Read more...

Every DBA needs to know how to do their work under pressure, while facing crisis after crisis. Our most important contribution is to keep the database running. It's an on-call function; you never know what might happen  Read more...

This article by Andy Warren includes code samples showing you how to restore a database from a file or a device backup.   Read more...

Differential backups are left out of many DBAs backup strategy, but they are a great tool to shrink your backup window, save disk space, and more. However they can be slightly tricky when you look to perform a restore. New author Qian Ye brings us an interesting issue that occured during differential testing.   Read more...

Everyone wants a highly available system, but achieving 4 or 5 9s of uptime is hard to do. Especially when you have cost limitations. New author Mark Cook takes a look at how his company analyzed the challenges and which method they chose along with some implementation details.   Read more...

How a transaction log was deleted and then recreated.  Read more...

Reduce your recovery time and minimize the chance for error by resolving all logins in one script.  Read more...

The CLR has not been well-received and most people use it for Regular Expressions and string functions. Here is an example that goes beyond trivial uses.  Read more...