Stored procedure: Search character columns for a given string

This tip continues the system stored procedure series with a routine to find occurrences of a string in the character columns of selected tables.

Query Analyzer Extended

SQL Server has the best client tools for a DBA of any RDBMS and SQL Server 2000 includes Query Analyzer, an amazing tool. There are a few places where this tool could use some improvement and Yakov Shlafman brings us a few ways that you make your work with Query Analyzer even smoother.

Minimizing the need to restore a backup

The second installment of this series discussed the cost of maintaining systems with various levels of downtime, ways data can be lost, and what constitutes a backup. In this installment, I discuss how to configure your hardware to minimize the need to restore a backup.

Manipulating Text Columns

One of the lesser used features of SQL Server is the work with text variables. These data types cannot always be manipulated with regular T-SQL. Raj Vasant brings us an introductory look at the various functions you can use to work with these fields.

File Watcher Task

The File Watcher Task does what it says really, it watches a folder waiting for files. When an available file is found the task completes, returning the name of the file for later use.

The task will detect changes to existing files as well as new files, both actions will cause the file to be found when available. A file is available when the task can open it exclusively. This is important for files that take a long time to be written, such as large files, or those that are just written slowly or delivered via a slow network link.

Database Design and Reference Tables

Whether you are building SQL Server 2000 applications or getting ready for the new features in SQL Server 2005, there are many fundamental database design principals that should be followed. New author Ranga Narasimhan brings us a look at how he handles reference tables when designing a database..

"TOP" Clause in SQL Server 2005

We all know the "TOP" clause returns the first n number of rows or percentage of rows thereby limiting the number of resulting rows displayed when we are selecting rows in a table.

SQL Server 2005 is packed with new features and enhancements. One of the enhancements in SQL 2005 that we are going to see is the clause, "TOP." The "TOP" clause will now allow us to do Data Manipulation and also allow similar criteria results to be displayed by using the TIES option.

Enterprise Manager Tricks for Newbies

SQL Server 2000 has a great set of administrative and development tools, one of the most heavily used of which is Enterprise Manager. Sushila Iyer brings us a fantastic article with some tricks in using this tool to create and manipulate tables.

A Call to Arms

Long anticipated, the arrival of radically restructured database architectures is now finally at hand.

SQL Server Spotlight on Donald Farmer

Continuing with the humanization of the amazing team hard at work on SQL Server, Steve Jones takes a few minutes with Donald Farmer, BI guru.