Nicely done. Exactly the type of situation where a good DBA earns their pay - and proves the value of having one to start with!

I interview quite a few developers for senior level positions and in all honesty, few of them can touch most of those questions if asked. A lot of this stems...

Not causing any trouble by making suggestions. We think on them, sometimes the time is right, sometimes not. Also a matter of time and resources - isn't most everything?! We're...

Maybe. To both the idea and being dead yet!

Seriously, it seems complicated, but I don't there is a simple solution other than not change anything. We'll think on it more,...

We'll kick around the upload option - at least that's not a no!

No pistol icon, interesting idea though.

We've talked off and on about the idea of being able to 'close'...

Phil, could you post the links here?

Posting an alternative as you did was a great touch!

I think questions like these are when we have our best chance as peers and as a community to really make a difference. In my opinion it's 'easier' to answer...

I tend to agree, but let's be a little kinder when pointing out flaws. Part of what we hope to do here is spark debate.

I've used Parsename before as a...

Sorry it took so long to reply. In general I prefer readers to post to the forums only, I get a LOT of mail, sometimes between that and work in...

Sorry it took so for long the reply - damn day job!

Snapshot is the easiest conceptually and you're on target using a filter. As long as you can do the...

I've made a little progress, but not there yet. Im really sorry about this - I'll think twice before running a contest that is so hands on next time!

Blame me, its my question!

Starting with one I can answer, you can drop a replicated column in SQL 2000, either using the stored proc or via the Enterprise Manager publication...

Do you have the same service pack on each machine? You can run 'select @@version' to compare.

Short of a very specific scenario, its bad stuff to create a table that...

I always backup to disk and keep 2 days on disk, that way Im covered if the nightly disk to tape job fails. Belt and suspenders approach. Its also practical,...