Installing SQL Server

Because installing SQL Server is so easy it is tempting to cut corners, fail to plan properly and blindly accept default options without considering the alternatives.

12 Essential Steps After Installing SQL Server

Rolling out SQL Servers is a key task for DBAs, this articles provides 12 essential post-installation steps.

Prepare SQL Server 2005 in a Clustered Environment for SP3

This article from shows how to prepare your SQL Server 2005 clustered environment for Service Pack 3 and avoid some common problems.

Invalid SKU Error when Adding a Node to a SQL 2008 Cluster

When trying to add a node to an existing SQL Server 2008 cluster you get an Invalid SKU Error

All about the 'Case'

When installing SQL Server, regardless of versions and editions, SQL Server database administrators tend to choose the default collation and sort-order, which is SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS. Though case insensitiveness makes the life of the database developers and database administrator's easy, there are situations where case sensitivity should be enforced just as password checking is enforced.

In this article, I would like to discuss different methods for achieving case sensitivity in a case insensitive database/server.

Building a Demo Server

Everyone does demos. Selling software relies upon people viewing your software in action and being confident it will work. Managing a demo server can be a challenge and this series will look at different problems and options you have.

Build a lot of DSN's in a hurry!

This article by Andy Warren offers a free utility that will generate DSN's for all or just a subset of the databases on a server in seconds.

Is Windows 2003 Really Faster?

Is Windows 2003 really faster for a SQL Server/IIS environment? Let us do all the leg work for you! We are about to upgrade the SQLServerCentral.com web and SQL Server from Windows 2000 to Windows 2003. As part of the case study, we are going to capture a baseline of the server's overall performance before the upgrade and then again after the upgrade. We will then document the experience and benchmark numbers.

Review of SQL 2000 Fast Answers

A monster book at 980 pages, it's written in 'how-to' format and has a ton of good material. Andy gave it the once over for us and reports back - see what he thinks!

SQL Server Upgrade Recommendations and Best Practices - Part 1

This article is the first of a multi-part series detailing the SQL Server Upgrade process from the technical, logistical and business perspective.