Microsoft Platform Vaults into New Performance Territory

SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition clocked an incredible 308,620 transactions per minute (tpmC)1 running on Windows .NET Server 2003, Datacenter Edition on an NEC TX7 server with 32 Intel Itanium 2 processors. The NEC system sets a new performance record on Windows, nearly doubling the best published 32-bit result. In addition, this Microsoft/Intel/NEC solution delivers the best price-performance of all results on the Top Ten performance list, at just $14.96/tpmC.

NGSSQuirreL Released.

NGSSoftware have released NGSSQuirreL, a security audit and management tool for SQL Server. Designed to ease the administrative burden of securing SQL Server, NGSSQuirreL finds the security holes then generates a lockdown script based upon the vulnerabilities found so the server can be secured in a matter of minutes; and regular audits can help keep it that way. For more information or an evaluation copy please see the NGSSite - http://www.nextgenss.com/.

Threat Profiling SQL Server

An interesting research paper by David Litchfield on how an attacker might go about attacking your server. Definitely worth a read.

What's best for DBAs? GUI or T-SQL commands?

This article discusses the advantages and disadvantages of using the SQL Server graphical administration tools (Enterprise Manager) versus the T-SQL administrative commands, with specific examples. Read up and decide for yourself, if you want to be a point-and-click DBA or a T-SQL scripting expert!

Upcoming SQL Server 2000 64-bit Beta Program

Liberty Beta 2 will incorporate all the updates of SQL Server’s Service Pack 3. Furthermore, Liberty Beta 2 will be optimized for the newest addition to Intel’s Itanium® Processor Family, the Itanium® 2 processor. This beta is scheduled to start in late September.

Note: Liberty requires 64-bit hardware with an Intel’s Itanium® or Itanium® 2 processor and will not run on standard 32-bit machines.

Defend Your Code with Top Ten Security Tips Every Developer Must Know

A list of tips that should make your code more secure. Note that SQL Server is mentioned in a few places, especially # 4

SQL-UP! version 1.3 now available

Incepto Ltd. announced the availability of SQL-UP! version 1.3, distributed SQL Server Cluster. SQL-UP! clusters SQL Server databases over LAN or WAN, with no shared storage device.

The software provides business continuity and complete disaster protection for business-critical databases. The new version adds support for online database schema changes, inter-domain clusters and high transaction load.

Proc-Blaster Updated

Proc-Blaster 2.32 has been released with much faster loading time, improved help file, new templates and more. Proc-Blaster is a RAD Code Generator for SQL Server.

VB TV

What's VB.NET? Microsoft has launched a new learning platform called VBTV. Check it out if you are interested in VB at all.

Forcibly Shrink the Transaction Log in All DBs

For lazy folks who want to use 'sp_force_shrink_log' in all dbs.  This script depends on 'sp_force_shrink_log' already existing.