Ever wanted to use the SQL Trace system stored procedures instead of Profiler, but got intimidated by the cryptic system stored procedure calls? Then this article is just for you. It will show you how to use SQL Trace system stored procedures and provide you with wrapper stored procedures, that can be used to quickly get server side traces up and running.
2003-12-10
1,891 reads
Steve Jones takes a first look at the next version of SQL Server. It's been sitting for some time, but with the NDA lifted, here's some first impressions of the tools.
2003-12-09
7,848 reads
Andy started writing about worst practices a long time ago and returns this week with one that is short and sweet - why defining rows that exceed 8060 characters is a very bad idea and how you can avoid it.
2003-12-08
8,801 reads
This service pack contains bug fixed, plus enhancements including test email button, sorting, and drill down.
2003-12-08
653 reads
Needing to number rows with a sequential id is a pretty common request. Sometimes it's because the user hasn't made the transition to 'set based' thinking, sometimes it really is a valid request (more or less!). Greg provides several different techniques to help you achieve sequential numbering.
2003-12-05
11,086 reads
This article proposes a system where extra data is stored in a simple row based table and retrieved using the 'store key'. It's not a new concept of course, but the author explains how and why he chose to implement. Feedback should be interesting!
2003-12-04
4,212 reads
Kumar discusses the differences between scale up and scale out, then does a very good walk through of how to build a scale out solution.
2003-12-03
7,636 reads
This is one of the vendors we met at PASS 2003. Their new driver is supposed to be faster than the driver provided by Microsoft AND supports NT authentication. Link takes you to a comparision chart of features. (Not Reviewed)
2003-12-03
1,622 reads
Most of us know what it is, or do we? Chris works on a good definition and along with that, gets into a good look at the problems denormalization creates and talks about a pretty common form of it - the indexed view.
2003-12-02
12,294 reads
Andy wrote up some notes about the recent PASS Community Summit, plans for next year, people we met, and much more.
2003-12-01
2,656 reads
A nightly load into sales_fact fails. Ask an orchestrating agent to break down the...
By Steve Jones
It’s been some time since I provided a car update, so I decided to...
By James Serra
An architecture scenario Imagine separate Sales, Finance, Shared Data, and Executive Analytics workspaces. Sales...
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Managing Incidents and Fighting Fires
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Backing Up a DMK
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The Quiet Part
In SQL Server 2025, I have a database with a Database Masker Key (DMK). I want to back up this key and keep a copy offline. When do I have to open this key before running the backup?
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