Yelena: Check your tools are installed in Program files folder and also check SSIS installation...

Chris: You want to avoid retores when failover happens but what the the jobs and alerts...

Your error is related to virtual log files...

Read the BOL topic "Virtual log files"...

Try using DBCC SHRINKFILE as other user suggested....

John,

DBCC OPENTRAN will show you open transactions the database...

Are you asking the original poster to run this command?

So, better check your serevers frequently and update them with latest SPs and patches

You can use the following three methods...

1. Mirroing...

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/sql/2005/dbmirror.mspx

http://www.dell.com/downloads/global/power/ps4q06-20070130-Muirhead.pdf

2. Log shipping...

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms190016.aspx

3. Replication...

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms151176.aspx

Some people try to save old data instead of new...so that I raised the flag...

If it works then good luck...

Try enabling "SELECT INTO/BULKCOPY" database option using sp_dboption procedure...

As DCPeterson mentioned there is no builtin functionality in sql but if your tables has inserted/updated data columns which inserts the datetime when the row inserted/updated take a look those...

Un-replicated transactions will also fill the log in transactional replication because sql will not truncate the log until the transactions replicated...

Store the MP packages in MSDB and restore the MSDB when you failover so that you will get all jobs alerts and schedules and MPs all together...

Make sure your log file growth is not restricted... if it is make it unrestricted...

Run the profiler and see what is happening during that time and include error events also...

I don't think anything will break if you change the sql server name to machine name...and I don't think there is any thing you can test...

Even if anything breaks you...

You can configure the disk to compress...MS will not support but it works...

SQL Server databases not supported on compressed volumes

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/231347

Instance should be used as...

ServerName OR IP address\InstanceName

If you have another instance on the server SERVICE packs will not effect each other...

I don't think so...