This is where this comment comes into play....

Thanks. I feel the same way...that's why I still don't like the GUI table or view designers. I completely agree on speed and cleanliness of the tables, too....

SSMS has an option where you can define how many rows are selected by default when you right-click a table. Go to Tools...Options...SQL Server Object Explorer...Commands. The key...

I agree with sturner. Backing up your service master key is always a good idea. Just because encryption isn't being used now doesn't mean it won't be used...

I very much prefer reading actual paper books instead of e-books. In real books, you can flip around and use fingers to hold a spot or two before continuing;...

No problem. Glad it helped.

Master Keys:

select * from sys.symmetric_keys;

The name of '##MS_DatabaseMasterKey##' or '##MS_ServiceMasterKey##' will tell you if it's a database master or service master key.

Symmetric Keys are stored in the same table and...

I don't know if the time part of the datetime really matters to you, but you can adjust your minimum date to keep if necessary to account for the 23:59:59...

Assuming the tables you want to expose in a single view are all the same, have you tried something like this?

CREATE VIEW BillsView

AS

SELECT field_list

FROM [server,port].database_name.dbo.table_name

UNION

SELECT field_list

FROM...

Is the delete statement going to become part of a daily maintenance job on the table or is this a one-time task?

If you're creating a daily maintenance, what indexes are...

I see you're casting ReportTime for every row in the table. You're also casting GetDate() and doing math with it. You end up with deleting 1M rows, so...

That was a good one. The insert twisted my thinking a bit and I had to take the time to see how the data was going to be populated....

BTW, if you haven't read Grant's book he referenced earlier, I'd recommend it. It's good.

It isn't SQL Server code that I've ever seen before. It isn't Oracle either. I don't know MySQL, so I won't comment on that.

Perhaps the best way to...

I had to go through this exercise myself a few years ago. I wrote up an "interview" sheet and limited myself to 10 questions. I had 5 technical...