Try this...

create table #results (index_name sysname, index_description varchar(200), index_keys varchar(300))

insert into #results exec sp_helpindex TABLE

if exists(select * from #results where index_keys like '%COLUMN%')

print 'Yep, theres an index'

else

print 'Nope, no index'

Use QA as mentioned in this post, it will tell you what's running inside SQL.

To set a cap on memory you should probably go through Enterprise Manager, into properties, memory...

That's a network error. This could be either the exchange server is down, or the SQL Server is having network problems.

A full list of the MAPI error codes can be...

Are you using a DSN to define the connections?

It seems as though the process is being blocked by an orphaned distributed transaction.

See http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/tsqlref/ts_sp_wa-wz_3v8v.asp for more details.

Unless you specify a hard cap SQL will take memory when it needs it. You could have an application running against the database which is causing large queries to be...

Not elegant, but works for a column...

if exists (select sc.name from syscolumns sc(nolock) inner join sysobjects so(nolock) on sc.id = so.id where so.name = 'TABLEA' and sc.name = 'COLB')

print 'YAY'

else

print...

You might want to check out http://support.microsoft.com/kb/841251/ with regards Windows XP and firewall problems.

I would do exactly as you have mentioned above. Set the max memory for each instance, otherwise you'll end up with one instance taking all the memory leaving nothing for...

Sorry, I've no experience with replicating data to Oracle.

Just wondered if you are seeing an IO bottleneck. RAID 5 is hella slow, can you check out a perfmon, see if you are getting disk queuing?

From BOL:

EXEC sp_changeobjectowner [ @objname = ] 'object' , [ @newowner = ] 'owner'

If the subscriber already has the schema and data correctly you could specify that option when setting up through the gui.

If you are concerned with table locking then you could...

Another thing to check is as to, if you are running Windows 2003, that you have remote distributed transactions enabled. http://www.kbalertz.com/Feedback_329332.aspx

I believe that lock hints are ignored on link server queries, as such your nolock is not having any effect.

Creating the view the way that you are however should force...