Are you aware that SQL Server 2005 can have up to ten services running? Working with that many service accounts can be a challenge. Steve Jones takes a look at these services and a few of the things that you will want to know before setting up SQL Server 2005.   Read more...

SQL Server 2005 will truly introduce a new paradigm in how developers and DBAs work with SQL Server. One area in which dramatic changes have taken place is DTS, which is now renamed to SQL Server Integration Services or SSIS. Expert author Jamie Thomson brings us a look at how the fundamentals of workflow change from DTS to SSIS.   Read more...

One of the more interesting new technologies in SQL Server 2005 is database mirroring, allowing you to implement high availability on a database with commodity hardware. Jay Dave brings us a nice description of this technology.   Read more...

SQL Server 2005 has added many new T-SQL commands, one of which is the OUTPUT command. Longtime SQL Server author Dinesh Asanka brings us a short look at how you can use this command.   Read more...

In a followup to his article on SQL Server Everywhere, Jacob Sebastian takes a more in-depth look at the smallest platform for SQL Server, Compact Edtion.   Read more...

Steve Jones continues with his look at how SQL Server 2005 differs from SQL Server 2000, this time tackling the differences from a developer perspective.   Read more...

If you're like Brian Knight, you probably have dozens if not hundreds of DTS packages running around that you're terrified to touch. SQL Server 2005 has some interesting methods to upgrade your packages to SSIS with minimal effort. This article shows you a few ways that you can use to upgrade and some of the drawbacks.   Read more...

Quickly becoming the SQL Server XML expert, Jacob Sebastion brings us a great new article that expands upon his very popular series on XML in SQL Server. This time he examines the FOR XML PATH option, which provides additional formatting capabilities.   Read more...

SQL Server Integration Services is an incredibly rich and complex development environment that can handle almost any data movement task. Even those that do not involve SQL Server. Longtime author Tim Mitchell brings us a use that has nothing to do with SQL Server, but can be very handy for many of us.   Read more...

The SQL Server 2005 Performance Dashboard is a new add-on to SQL Server 2005 that became available shortly after the release of Service Pack 2 for SQL Server 2005.  Read more...

How many of you have written resursive queries in SQL? Or any language since school for that matter? Not many people write recusrive queries because of the complexity, the difficulty to understand how they work, and the chance for heap overflows. However, SQL Server 2005 implements Common Table Expressions and recursion in a way that is much easier to code and incorporates some safeguards. New author SQL Server MVP Frederic Brouard has written a fantastic article looking at resursive queries.   Read more...

Any time you need to modify objects in your SQL Server 2005 database, the objects that are dependent upon those objects are a concern. You don't want to remove columns from tables, procedures, views, or tables if there are objects dependent upon them that are being used.  Read more...

SQL Server Integration Services, the ETL subsystem for SQL Server 2005, is a new paradigm of development for the SQL Server DBA. It is one of the most popular, and also complex, environments that many people work with in SQL Server 2005. Amit Lohia brings us an introduction to this environment along with the basics of building and deploying a package.   Read more...

In a previous tip we saw how easy it was to link to SQL Server tables from Microsoft Access. As is the case with all systems, how does Access manage the changes? What happens when you modify the structure of the underlying SQL Server table? What happens to the SQL Server table if you delete the linked table in Access? We will look at each of these situations in this tip.  Read more...

One very interesting new feature in SQL Server 2005 is the ability to run backups to multiple locations, ensuring you have a second copy of the backup file if your first one were to be corrupted. SQL Server expert Andy Warren takes a look at how this feature works and the implications of using it.   Read more...

Some useful undocumented extended and stored procedures in SQL Server 2005  Read more...

What are the differences between SQL Server 2000 and 2005? It's a question that DBAs are often asked by those who don't work with SQL Server on a daily basis. Steve Jones begins a short series on the differences by examining some of the core administrative differences.   Read more...

Performing an upgrade to the next version of SQL Server is something more and more of us will be doing as the support for SQL Server 2000 wanes. New author Sachin Samuel brings us an overview of the process and options that you have for performing an upgrade.   Read more...

Learn what a Dates table is and how to create one, and then try it out for yourself  Read more...

Continuing on with his series on XML, Jacob Sebastian looks at some more advanced XML techniques in SQL Server 2005.   Read more...

What are the differences between SQL Server 2000 and 2005? It's a question that DBAs are often asked by those who don't work with SQL Server on a daily basis. Steve Jones begins a short series on the differences by examining some of the core administrative differences.   Read more...

Build List Updated with Cumulative Update 7 for SP2.   Read more...

Performing an upgrade to the next version of SQL Server is something more and more of us will be doing as the support for SQL Server 2000 wanes. New author Sachin Samuel brings us an overview of the process and options that you have for performing an upgrade.   Read more...