Advantage, it seems simpler to do backups. They point to an instance and it backs up.

Disadvantages: the restores don't always work. I've had them flake, they can be slower, and...

There are some resources on the MS site.

Dumps/specifics from the exam are illegal and violate the NDA. We don't condone those, and MS will revoke your certification for using/posting those.

Pick...

2008 is stable, but you have to decide that.

Either one works, there's no compelling reason to say 2005 or 2008 unless you need some specific feature in 2008.

Find SPID (sp_who2) that is running this.

kill (spid)

look at this

http://www.sqlservercentral.com/scripts/Miscellaneous/30473/

you might have to fix users/logins as well.

You should follow Gail's links and check out the various ones offered and decide which one fits what you do.

also, moved to the certifications forum.

watch memory. You'll have some management work do to there to figure out how much each instance needs.

You can install SQL anywhere (the program files) and set the data files anywhere as well. You can move data files (detach/attach), set defaults for new databases, or ad hoc,...

A backup can run anytime. Just because you have a maintenance plan doesn't mean this is the last backup run. If someone runs an adhoc one, they break the...

Nothing's perfect and what do you mean by ssh. The remote shell? That has nothing to do with transfers, that's a way of connecting.

yes

I think you're confusing space and capacity.

RAM is a set number in the server. You can add more, but at a given time, that doesn't change. How much should...

Is the file fragmented now on disk? If so, this might help clean some of that up.

you can shrink to some xx level, you'd have to calculate that out. Remember...

Good points and I'm not sure how I'd define things. I think MS has the best support, and perhaps it's a non issue. Seems like lots of people are stilling...