Given the simplicity of the SQL I would simply duplicate the query on the other side of an IF.

I've got something similar in some of my procs, but I have...

See the locking comment above.

If you have some down-time in your schedule then do the rebuild.  If you don't then you are stuck with defrag.

I would do the update statistics...

I have a utility stored procedure but I tend to use DBCC DBREINDEX rather than the defrag.

The procedure also updates the statistics for all tables.

If you exec usp_UpdateStatistics then it...

If your client software has to run a SELECT on your view then it will be slower than if your client simply executes the procedure.

I don't know if it is...

Are they exactly the same stored procedures that you run in QA and via jobs?

If they are that rules out old query plans and a need for recompiling your procs.

My guess...

The CONVERT statement should be

SET DateOfBirth =CONVERT(SmallDateTime,DOB,1)

This is because you are converting text to a date.  The final argument identifies the string as being in mm/dd/yy format.

To display it in...

Char is fixed length and will always take up 6 characters.

VarChar is variable length and will take a maximum of 6 characters.

CREATE TABLE #CharVarChar(CharField CHAR(6),VarCharField VARCHAR(6))

INSERT #CharVarChar (CharField,VarCharField) VALUES('A','A')

--Now try

SELECT...

Personally, I would do this sort of calculation at the client front end rather than the database back end but return the records in reverse result order.

I played around with...

exec master.dbo.xp_cmdshell 'c:\specialticket.xml'

should be

exec master.dbo.xp_cmdshell 'type c:\specialticket.xml'

What you are doing is executing a DOS type command but instead of the output being echoed to the screen it is...

Andy Warren reviewed a specific performance tuning book on this site. http://www.sqlservercentral.com/columnists/awarren/reviewofsqlserver2000performancetuning.asp

Brian Kelley wrote an E-Book called "Start to finish guide to SQL Server Performance Monitoring" that I would...

I played around with it for personal interest sake.

CREATE TABLE #tmp( XMLContainer TEXT)

INSERT #tmp

exec master.dbo.xp_cmdshell 'type myfile.xml'

Once you have done this then you can use the built in SQL XML...

BOL is talking rubbish.

It should be CONVERT(varbinary(256),password)

I am trying something similar but my servers are in different domains so I cannot use the DTS Transfer logins routine.

BOL says that I can do the following

E. Create a...

It is moving it on the same server.

I'm asking more for curiosity sake than anything. 

As standard practice I use the articles you wrote on moving databases to put the...

That 8000 characters includes white space and some white space characters can break your SQL.

The only problems I have had are when unicode text (which takes twice as much space) gets...