SQL Server 2005 Learning Guide

It's been five years since Microsoft released a new DBMS, but both experts and users agree that this one was worth the wait. SQL Server 2005's enhancements and new features have made the system a much more attractive attractive option to both large and small shops. Nonetheless, upgrading to SQL Server 2005 is a serious undertaking, requiring extensive training, planning and testing. In this Learning Guide, you will find news, technical tips and expert advice to help address your questions and concerns regarding SQL Server 2005 and put you on the road to a successful upgrade.

You are working on some new stored procedures...

Dynamic Management Views

The dynamic management views (DMVs) in SQL Server 2005 are designed to give you a window into what's going on inside SQL Server. They can provide information on what's currently happening inside the server as well as the objects it's storing. They are designed to be used instead of system tables and the various functions provided in SQL Server 2000. This article provides an introduction to DMVs and covers a few of the basic views and functions.

More Intelligent Backup and Restore

Backups and restores are two fundamental tasks that a DBA must perform correctly. But remembering the syntax, options, decoding filenames, etc. can often be busy work that leaves a DBA open to mistakes. New author Vince Iacoboni brings us his code and techniques for a set of stored procedures to make handling backups and restores very simple.

SSL Certificates on SQL Server 2005 for Reporting Services

If you are deploying Reporting Services on SQL Server 2005, you may run into an issue when installing an SSL certificate. David Russell brings us some information on what could happen and how to successfully install.

The Best Kept Secret About SQL Query Analyzer

It has been nearly 5 years since SQL Server 2000 was released and almost seven since Query Analyzer was introduced in SQL Server 7. Surely every trick, tip, technique, or secret has been published by now? Perhaps, but this might be a new one from Yakov Shlafman. Check out what he thinks is the best kept secret.

Conducting a SQL Server Operational Audit

Auditing, analyzing and documenting your SQL Server installation is becoming more important all the time, especially as more and more attention is being paid to the security of your environment. Chad Miller brings us a look at a framework and a sample document you can use in your environment to conduct an audit.

How to find that job is running?

Have you ever wanted an easy way to determine if a job is running for automated checks? This might not be an easy way, but Leo Peysakhovich provides a way that works and corrects an error in Books Online.

You have setup Replication on your SQL 2000...

Auto Logout Users for DB Maintenance

One thing Access developers love about using SQL Server as the back end is that it is easy to do maintenance. I can't tell you how many times I toured around an office, looking for users who had their client open and connected to the data so I could ask them to log out. Too many times, the offender was at lunch or away from their desks, with their desktops locked.