Part 3 of a great series on the basics of indexes. Learn the structure, definition, and how to examine the use of these indexes in your queries.  Read more...

The list of builds for SQL Server 2008 updated SP3.  Read more...

We asked Phil Factor to write a nice simple quick-start guide about aggregation, pivoting and un-pivoting techniques. To do so, he takes us all the way from getting the data from a published source, transferring it to SQL Server, un-pivoting it, storing it in a relational table, aggregating it and finally pivoting the data in a variety of ways.  Read more...

Somebody Has to Do It, Apparently  Read more...

Preparation for upgrading SQL Server 2005 production database servers to SQL Server 2008, I tested upgrade in dev/test env.  Read more...

Josef Richberg is an exceptional person: The Judges of the Exceptional DBA Award were quickly proved right in their decision to choose him, when he subsequently showed extraordinary resilience and determination in the face of an unexpected diagnosis of cancer. His determination to deal positively with a difficult life-event is surely a source of inspiration to all of us.  Read more...

Most SQL Server DBAs have questions about how to detach and attach a FILESTREAM enabled databases. In this tip, we will take a look at the steps Database Administrators need to follow in order to detach and attach a FILESTREAM database once Data, Log and FILESTREAM container files have been moved from the default location to a new location. This tip includes a general explanation of the FILESTREAM technology introduced with SQL Server 2008. This is followed by examples and scripts to detach and attach FILESTREAM enabled database in your environment.  Read more...

Replacing multiple spaces with a single space is an old problem that people use loops, functions, and/or Tally tables for. Here's a set based method from MVP Jeff Moden.  Read more...

Here is a real world scenario I came across on the MSDN forums. The forum poster wanted a method to dynamically create HTML hyperlinks, for keywords/phrases , within the description of the current column text. Enter this challenge and see how your T-SQL skills match up.  Read more...

Having concluded our discussion of Reporting Services in SQL Server 2005 Express Edition, we now begin an examination of Full Text Indexing and Search.  Read more...

In your development environment if you have locked down permissions for developers, but still need them to execute stored procedures you will need to grant execute rights each time a new stored procedure is generated. In this tip I will show you a way of doing this automatically each time a new stored procedure is created without granting your developers additional permissions.  Read more...

Describes different uses of the SSIS Foreach Loop container in one practical scenario.  Read more...

SQL Azure is very similar to traditional SQL Server and now supports many standard TSQL commands. This article demonstrates the use of TSQL commands to create SQL Azure objects.  Read more...

Have you ever been required to create a database with nothing but a specification in Excel?  Read more...

In SQL Server 2008 one can store BLOBs (e.g. Images, video, Word, Excel, PDF, MP3, etc) in the NTFS file system rather than in a database file. This can be done by using the new FILESTREAM feature which was introduced in SQL Server 2008. In this tip we will take a look at some of the best practices which a database administrator can follow to get the best performance when using the FILESTREAM feature of SQL Server 2008.  Read more...

In the second part of her series on indexing, MVP Gail Shaw examines clustered indexes. Learn what this index is, how it differs from a heap, and how it can help your queries.  Read more...