Take a text backup of MySQL.

Most of it should run quite happily as a script using OSQL. You may have to judiciously alter a few datatypes globally (sed on...

If you're having problems with DTS not being able to lock the database, ready for log shipping, I'd really suggest that you use the regular backups (full, differential and transaction...

Does the backup include all the previous differentials?

You need to have all the differentials in sequence to make a complete backup.

To check you have the right ones available, use the...

The way I approached it was to take a trace of all the read/write activity of the database server I was intending to work in a maintenance plan on.

This trace...

If you're only running the MS SQL Server on that box, then using PerfMon, and adding the requisite network counters will give you a view of approximately how much is...

Are there any relevant entries in the application log for your Windows install? That would be my first port of call. You may well find an entry about...

Maint plans are a basic toolbox set of scripts, as far as I can see.

They'll give you a basic safety net if you've never administered a database server before, or...

Anything written in your server logs that says why the backup failed?

For just about everywhere I've worked, the DBA takes the senior role.

That's because to be a half decent DBA, you need to understand development (to make sure you're doing the...

With log shipping, you won't have anything replicated on your 'B' server until the logs have been shipped to it, and imported.

However, you probably won't be able to see the...

Be nice is they got the spelling of the country right too!

That's a possiblity for a solution (may test it for purely local and new work), however, the solution I'm looking for is one that allows the dbcc to run bare...

Excellent article.

It's always useful to know just how the server performs under different situations.

I tend to use Perl with a pipe from OSQL to access data exported from the SQL...

Have you used the Windows Performance Monitor to check the state of the server you're using?

What happens when you run the SQL from an editor, such as Query Analyzer?

Sometimes, over...

A rough guide to this would be to create an SQL script, and kick it off by OSQL, embedded in a windows shell script (batch file).

This gets around the problems...