your script is missing parameters for the call:

http://www.sqldev.net/xp/xpsmtp.htm#Usage

here's an example on the syntax:

- ************************************************************************

-- more comprehensive example

-- ************************************************************************

declare @rc int

exec @rc = master.dbo.xp_smtp_sendmail

@FROM ...

google was my friend on this one:

searched for "SLA example" an these are the first two that seemed relevant to me:

http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-10878_11-1048632.html

http://www.4-consulting.com/it-projects2/4CL_SLA.htm

yeah, with large amounts of data, usually what happens is the data is copied into your servers tempdb, manipulated, and then the answer is returned.

whenever possible, you should use OPENQUERY...

you can prevent certain logins from having access to any linked servers you create, but not by IP address; typically, if you want to block IP's you do...

depends on what you are trying to accomplish when you say "alternatives to a linked server"...gather data from sources outside of your server is probably what you mean, right?

linked servers...

it sounds like this was your order of operations, and explains why when you restore, you lose your keys:

1. created the database.

2. create the table

3. backed up the database

4. added...

the extra two bytes are so they can store the physical address of the memory location of the row.

you should probably explain what you are trying to do; there's some logical errors in your code;

this section:

DATEDIFF(ms, 0, '2009-07-16 12:30:00') --milliseconds from 01/01/1900 to today--overflow

is trying to calculate all...

gawd after you said it, of course i know better...duh....thanks Jack; i thought it was something new.

Jack Corbett (8/7/2009)

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Do you have database mail setup? Have you set up the alert system to use database mail? Lastly, how did you setup the alert? I...

most decent text editors have syntax highlighting in them; many have a snippet feature as well. t

I use editplus because besides syntax highlighting, it has a nice cliptext feature, where...

wouldn't changing the defaults on these to empty strings improve your proc a bit?

@componentType varchar(10) = null,
@lang varchar(10) = null,
@issVersion varchar(10) = null,
@entitlementSuite varchar(10) = null,
@platform varchar(10) = null,

comparing SomeColumn...

yeah i was looking at that;

really what you want to do is have your original be a "master" procedure, and depending on parameters, call other, more refined procedures for specific...

parameter sniffing: search here on SSC for some examples and solutions;

parameter sniffing happens when an execution plan is built that does not reflect the real way to get the data;...

elegant way? not really...you've got to convert to int, add the value, then convert the value back to varchar/nvarchar, then you have to add the preceeeding zeros:

SELECT RIGHT('000000' + convert(varchar(30),...