One of the major problems in the database field is when people store sensitive data unencrypted into SQL Server. This article shows you one of the most basic ways to encrypt data to the casual viewer.   Read more...

How many of you use Execution Plans to tune your queries? Do you understand the impact of different indexes? Mr. Vijayakumar looks at his experiments with different types of indexes and their effects on the execution plan use. A great article for those of you that want to learn more about how you can tune your server for better performance.   Read more...

DTS is an incredible package for moving data in the SQL Server world. One feature that is missing, however, is the ability to send files using FTP to a remote server. This article looks at a technique for sending files via FTP.   Read more...

Xp_sendmail is a great utility that SQL Server provides in order to e-mail messages directly from SQL Server, by using a valid MAPI profile. However, its syntax is rather stringent. In this article by Kunal Das, he shows you how to send messages to a list of recipients generated by a query dynamically in T-SQL.   Read more...

In this follow up Andy looks into some of the options available when you're dealing with situations where you're joining a case sensitive column to a case insensitive column. We think after reading this you'll be ready to just say no!   Read more...

See what a reader had to say about Part 1, make sure you've read Part 2, then feel the pain as the author describes a lookup table that should have had unique values and doesn't.   Read more...

Sysforeignkeys is a valuable SQL Server resource. How many times have you had to "pick up the pieces" from a database developed by someone else and dropped on your desk? Ever get a database diagram with that? A data dictionary? Probably not too often. Jeffrey Yao has developed a system of finding those parent-child relationships automatically and displaying them so he can get up to speed quickly on these inherited databases. Read on to find out more.   Read more...

Creating a system stored procedure isn't hard. You're always cautioned from making changes to the system, depending on the system for a particular functionality, etc., and you should be cautious. However adding system stored procedures to your servers can be beneficial and make your administration much more convenient. Read on the see how easy this can be to do.   Read more...

How many of you use Execution Plans to tune your queries? Do you understand the impact of different indexes? Mr. Vijayakumar looks at his experiments with different types of indexes and their effects on the execution plan use. A great article for those of you that want to learn more about how you can tune your server for better performance.   Read more...

Have you ever had the problem where a user ran a query against your SQL Serer and crashed it or made the server unusable since the CPU was spiked at 100%? A SQL Server black box is the equivalent of a flight data record. The black box records all queries being passed to your SQL Server and other useful information like errors.   Read more...

In this example, we will attempt to get some statistical information on file-group utilization to assist us with IO monitoring.   Read more...

Bitwise operators can be challenging to manage at first. However, with practice and patience, and under the right conditions, these operators can provide remarkable performance improvements in production environments. This article will compare two methods of accomplishing the same output, one with a normalized model and the other with bitwise operators.   Read more...

The purpose of this article is to give you a working knowledge of how to view and understand query execution plans for SQL Server. This is part 1 in a series of articles that will walk you through understanding execution plans to help you improve your queries.   Read more...

This article shows you one of the most time saving stored procedure built into SQL Server and then shows you how you can modify it to affect additional objects like triggers. For example, after this article and the code in the article, you'll be able to disable every trigger in your system in one line of code.   Read more...

In this article by Randy Dyess he shares with you the script on how he audits his environment and outputs reports of the permissions that users have.  Read more...

Building and executing dynamic sql in a stored procedure - is it the only way to solve problems like supporting a simple search function? Leon offers a couple alternatives that let you continue to provide the functionality in a stored procedure without using dynamic sql. Interesting ideas worth exploring!   Read more...

Ever been placed into a new environment and couldn't find an ounce of documentation? This article is the first in a series that will help you make an audit of your new environment and determine if any SQL Server login does not have a password, has a password the same as the login name or a password that is only one character long.  Read more...

DTS is an incredible package for moving data in the SQL Server world. One feature that is missing, however, is the ability to send files using FTP to a remote server. This article looks at a technique for sending files via FTP.   Read more...

Running a script automatically from SQL Server is easier than you think. Here are a few methods you can use.   Read more...

This is a broad overview of the DBCC SQLPERF command primarily for version 7 and 2000.   Read more...

How many of you use Execution Plans to tune your queries? Do you understand the impact of different indexes? Mr. Vijayakumar looks at his experiments with different types of indexes and their effects on the execution plan use. A great article for those of you that want to learn more about how you can tune your server for better performance.   Read more...

Sysforeignkeys is a valuable SQL Server resource. How many times have you had to "pick up the pieces" from a database developed by someone else and dropped on your desk? Ever get a database diagram with that? A data dictionary? Probably not too often. Jeffrey Yao has developed a system of finding those parent-child relationships automatically and displaying them so he can get up to speed quickly on these inherited databases. Read on to find out more.   Read more...

In this follow up Andy looks into some of the options available when you're dealing with situations where you're joining a case sensitive column to a case insensitive column. We think after reading this you'll be ready to just say no!   Read more...