actually can anyone clarify if the concatenation of multiple 8k strings works ok ?

cool, what I thought but needed confirmation

cheers

I've had this problem ( but not always with sysmaint.exe plans ) ours is down to excessive handles open on the agent service - check in task manger for the...

No I've never known the WA_xxxx stats to have any impact ( assuming auto-create and auto_update stats are off )  I sometimes look to the wa_xxx to show me where...

It's probable for a data warehouse that the auto stats are not required, as long as you manually update stats after a load.

Placing the database in simple recovery mode...

Well I'm slightly confused as SQL Compare does just what you list and is very easy to setup and use ( true you need the dot net framework ). Maybe...

SQL Cache hit ratio will be an idication of sql memory. Disk time + i/o rates, although you'll have to do your sums with regard to the spindles .. I...

There could be any number of reasons for your problems, usually if SQL Server is very busy then it can be difficult to connect at the desktop, which is good...

considering the low cost of Redgate's SQL Compare I'd suggest you buy a copy, It's been an essential part of my toolbox for some years and is a key tool...

In general terms adding memory increases the size of data cache so should decrease the level of physical i/o on the disk subsystem.

I assume your databases actually are greater than...

btw. the auto create and auto updatestats shouldn't do any harm but don't assume they negate the need to do a manual update

it won't hurt to manually update stats after rebuilding the indexes .. try sp_updatestats.

I only ever upgraded a sql server once - never again - I always do a new...

That's quite interesting .. the probs I had were with a 4Gb ram cluster using zeon 3's. It was decided that adding the extra memory slowed down the server and...

bclevlnd   - could you expand on what your problem was, your o/s and sql setup and exactly what ms said to do?

I...

note that awe uses memory above 4 Gb and pae is not required until you have more than 4 Gb ram. There's an excellent article on the site ( sorry...