An Identity Crisis

SQL Server includes autonumber of identity columns despite the fact that they are not SQL-92 compliant. There is quite a bit of debate over the use of them in your database, but if you do decide to use them, you should be aware of potential problems. New author Troy Ketsdever brings us a story about his identity crisis and how it was solved.

In SQL Server 2000, you are setting up...

Quick! Which specific SQL Server user is logged into which database?

SQL Server's master database stores tables with important and constantly updated information about the state of the SQL server. One of these tables, sysprocesses, can be used to track (in SQL Server itself) which SQL Server users are currently logged in and which database(s) they are accessing.

The quick way to find out if a particular user is accessing a particular table is with a query.

Given the following tables (relations) where X is...

Using the Table Data Type in SQL Server 2000

Performing routine database maintenance such as reindexing is important for keeping your databases running at peak performance. When you use INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE statements to modify table data, indexes can become fragmented. Index fragmentation can happen when the logical sequence of pages is disrupted or when an index page contains less than its maximum amount of data, creating a gap in the data page or index. As indexes become fragmented, you get inefficient data reads when accessing tables and slower database performance.

MSSQL Server 2000 Reporting Services : Black Belt Administration: Exec

We introduced our previous article, Prepare the Execution Log for Reporting, with a discussion about a valuable source of information for performance and auditing analysis, identifying the Report Server Execution Log as a great place to start for this sort of reporting. We noted that the Execution Log captures data specific to individual reports, including when a given report was run, identification of the user who ran it, delivery destination of the report, and which rendering format was used, among other information.

The SQL Server Web Data Administrator

Do you need the ability to manage your SQL Server data wherever you are? Microsoft released a Web interface that can help you manage your SQL Server databases. With this tool, called the SQL Server Web Data Administrator, you can:

* Perform ad-hoc queries against databases and save them to your file system.
* Create/edit databases in SQL Server 2000 or MSDE 2000.
* View, create, and edit stored procedures.
* Export and import database schema and data.
* Manage users and roles.

The Perils of Fiber Mode

Ken Henderson explains the effects that SQL Server fiber mode coupled with the User Mode Scheduler component can have on your system, and what to consider carefully before enabling fiber mode.

Installing and Configuring SQL Server Reporting Services

In this chapter, we discuss various installation setups you can use to install and configure Reporting Services. For the most part, this process is managed by the Setup.exe installation wizard, so expect to be prompted for a number of configuration options that determine how, where, and whether each segment of the Reporting Services package will be installed. We know that there are a variety of ways to install Reporting Services, so we've tried not only to address the common case, but also provide hints and techniques to be used for some of the more sophisticated installation scenarios. To make this process as painless as possible, we've broken this chapter down into several sections:

Changing SQL Server Passwords

SQL Server 2000 does not have the best or most secure password mechanism. In fact it does a pretty poor job of managing passwords and forcing changes. From the very knowledgable web team over at Orcsweb, a short article on how you change passwords in code.