Here you go...

SQL Server 2005 Upgrade Handbook

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

High availability solution...is depends on the business requirement and the budget...

Mirroring is free comes with sql...

http://www.x-sql.com/productdet.aspx?Code=xSQLObj2

'tempdb.dbo.MSdistributor_access' table might be marked as system table so that you can't delete it.

You can disable the Log Shipping jobs ie., the

Log Shipping Transaction Log Backup job on the Primary Server and the Log

Shipping Transaction Log Copy and Restore jobs on...

25 concurrent connections to the sql server.

If I am not mistaken OS Error 5 is access denied error. Make sure you have sufficient permission to read the files.

Best test will be run EXEC MASTER..XP_CMDSHELL 'DIR \VIENNA\D$\MSSQL\distribution\ReplData\unc\VIENNA_IMP_KLI_IMP_KLI\20061207180011\'

Is...

You don't see time out information in system tables...

You may see some information in msdb..sysjobhistory table.

select * from msdb..backupset

where database_name = <>

order by backup_start_date desc

select step_id, step_name, message from msdb..sysjobhistory...

To restore the system databases you have to have the same build on destination as source.

Run select @@version command and make sure you have the same sql version and build.

For...

Inside SQL server 2000/2005 by Kalen Delaney

Active transactions (tlog) will not be truncated if you run the backup log with TRUNCATE_ONLY option...

You mean to say sql 2005 not 2003?

Check the max server memory configuration once again by running sp_configure proc..

I don't see any reason to use more memory than it is...

I don't think sp_removedbreplication  removes subscriptions...

It is top of my head but I think... you need to cleanup some of the tables in msdb like MSdistpublishers..

Did you restart your...

Might be you tlog backups missing...

Check it out if you have any un restored tlog backups...

Solution without restoring full db is take the differential backup and apply to the standby...

Make sure you can linked server queries first to test the connection between the two servers before you troubleshoot your connection issue.

It could be security (login pwd) or network issue.

I do my 800 GB backup in < 2 hours using LiteSpeed and the backup file size is < 150GB.

You can convince your managers to spend some money for buying...