Thanks for the replies !!  You guys were spot on, even though you didn't see the code !  The recompile did not seem to help, not did the UNION ALL. ...

SQLBill .... My thoughts exactly

SG:    WinRar is shareware (I think). After your regular SQL backup, you would "RAR" your .BAK file instead of trying to "ZIP" it, because ZIP can only handle "small" files.

I don't understand what the anit-stored procedure argument is !    Some issues can be argued one way or another, and both have merits.  But what are the merits of not...

I was going to reply similar to fhanlon.  We code our DTS packages in jobs like this:

DTSRun /S SERVER_NAME_HERE /E /N "DTS NAME HERE"

Display an Execution Plan for the SP to look for code that needs optimizing  ( ie table scans ...)

You could first load into a staging table that allows null, then in your DTS have a 2nd step that does:

 INSERT INTO REAL_TABLE SELECT * FROM STAGING_TABLE where COLUMN1 is not...

I don't check that deeply. I make sure it suceeded, no errors, data is fully accessible, connections work .... etc ...

Yes.   You backup your database "PRODUCTION_DB" and then do a restore, and in the TO DATABASE box you put the new DB name "PRACTICE_RESTORE"

It could be initiated from another server. For instance, a utility server running a reindex job, setting the DB to simple first to avoid huge t-log growth, but forgetting to...

Replace did the trick. Thanks to both of you !

We just did it a couple of weekends ago.  "Piece of cake"  You just use the Enterprise Installer, and select the upgrade option.  I think it was a grand total...

I always use a Windows domain account with SQL Admin rights for replication, not a SQL account.  If you use a SQL account, you may have to make sure the name...

I agree. This is not a job for replication.  The maintenance of replication will be a nightmare if you are making database schema changes on your source server (publisher).

I'm trying to come up with a secure way to write down my passwords to avoid these emergencies. Something along the lines of saving a list of just passwords somewhere,...