If you use Windows auth, get with your Windows/domain administrators and verify that the trust relationship is in place and in the "right direction." If so, access can be granted...

Yes, it's possible. If there is a trust relationship such that the new domain trusts your domain, you can do so using Windows authentication. The connection string would be no...

You can do that, but that command will miss SQL Servers if any of the following is true:

1) a SQL Server is installed on a system but not started

2) a...

If you need the order by and the top 6... you'll probably want to use a subquery. Something like:

SELECT SUM(smu_reading) Total
FROM (SELECT TOP 6 smu_reading
     ...

Do you just need the average or do you need both the average and the six values as well?

Most "enterprise" architects are really application architects, meaning they design application systems. Infrastructure architects (like me) design the physical structure, servers, security, etc. Network architects (of which some infrastructure architects...

Does the table you're querying have a column named a? Since you have SELECT *, is the a column even necessary?

Yes. That's how my workstation is configured and I have had no issues. Both can be open at the same time, too.

You must build you string before hand as concatenation characters are not allowed. From Books Online (highlight mine):

Is a Unicode string containing a Transact-SQL statement or batch. stmt must be...

You can't. Anyone in the sysadmin fixed server role maps into a database as dbo. The dbo user ignores permissions, including DENYs. The dbo user has access to all objects.

Not always. For instance, I believe db_datareader and db_datawriter ignore DENYs for the appropriate operations on tables and views. Not sure about db_ddladmin. You'll definitely want to test to see...

I would not apply SP4 (or any SQL Server service pack, for that matter) without testing it first in a non-production environment and making sure it doesn't break anything, however...

Hrm. I've not seen that. I'll have to play around and see if I can recreate the issue.

Ok, what you've described fits the scenario described in the following Knowledge Base article:

FIX: You may notice incorrect values for the "Active Transactions" counter when you...

You can grant the right to CREATE PROCEDURE. This also gives the right to alter. The two are inseparable in SQL Server 7.0/2000. However, the stored procedure must also be...