Step-by-Step Guide: How to patch SQL Server

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So you've decided to secure your SQL Server infrastructure and you don't know where to start. This first guide in a two-part series on SQL Server patch deployment will help you track down those pesky servers before getting them properly patched.

SQL Servers represent a significant security challenge for a number of reasons. Primarily, they are ubiquitous. Hundreds of software packages use SQL Server as a data store as do a large number of commercial websites.

MSSQL Server Reporting Services: Black Belt Administration: "Governor"

In working with many reporting tools over my career, particularly within enterprise business intelligence suites and high-end production reporting systems, I have become acquainted with various control features in each that allow administrators to govern the actions of end users. Reporting Services is no different in this aspect of need for control, and the application provides numerous avenues for restraining our users from kicking off resource crippling queries that, unchecked, could disrupt even the most robust systems, as well as to prevent other harmful activities. At various junctures within this series, we will examine ways to effect such controls on an intermittent basis.

The Value of A DBA

SQL Server 2000 does an amazing job of running itself to a large extent, much more so in my experience, than the other major platforms. That being said, it isn't designed to run without some sort of DBA, at least not at an efficient level. But what value does a production level DBA bring to your organization? Your manager might wonder, but with many years of experience as a production DBA and manager, Steve Jones brings you a look at the value that a DBA provides.

You are looking to improve the performance of...

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.