Jeff Moden (4/7/2009)

Specifically, you didn't. Grant mentioned it first...

It sounds like you're going to be in pain for some time to come. Document everything and work with them as closely as possible. That's about all you can do....

Can you get the actual execution plan and post it as a zip file?

Here's a video showing how to do that.

There is a small cost to the * for queries in that the engine will have to do a search to find the column list that it's returning. It's slight,...

I agree with GSquared. Some sample structures & data will make it easier to test.

However a few things jump out of this right away:

SELECT itl.user_id, au.notes, au.shift,

sum(update_qty * m.avg_cubes)...

I'm not sure. It's a connection setting and if your connection is setting something other than -1, then it may need to be adjusted.

davidandrews13 (4/7/2009)

oh i understand why 'where col1 like 'null%' doesn't work .:) presuming thats the bit your replying to?

i was just shocked that 'where col1 not like 'null%' does seem...

It really depends. There's nothing that says a self-join is inherently bad and with proper indexing I would assume better performance than moving the data out into temporary tables and...

It's a classic bookmark lookup issue. There are a number of possible solutions, but it really depends on your structure & business requirements. Do a search for solutions, but be...

To perform both, you might want to look into using SSIS. You'll get a lot more control although it will require more work out of you. Otherwise, the other posts...

Cool. CA released a free version. That's great. Good to know.

davidandrews13 (4/7/2009)

surprisingly, for me it does seem to work.

i just did a simple...

fminns (4/7/2009)

Yes, I guess the WITH REPLACE would be the way foeward here. It's not what the course materials are telling me though which is just bound to confuse me...

The one that comes built in with SQL Server. It's not great, at all, but it does the basics reasonably well. If you have a full Office license there's also...

Can't you use WITH REPLACE just like you would with a regular full backup restore when the tail hasn't been backed up?