You need to configure SQLMail to do the reading. These stored procedures only work with the MAPI interface in a client like Outlook.

You could also do some processing of mail...

Never seen anything like this and that's a strange one. Course, I don't like my computer beeping at me.

A good idea, but I'm not sure I agree. Unless there is some pick and choose and a subscription model. Upgrading our DBs is a major challenge, both in time...

I've got a slightly different perspective on the SANs. I work in a large data center, managing DB2, Oracle and SQL across local and SAN storage. Some things I've seen...

I have to search it down, but I had a routine to do this for the backup files and track the sizes. Could easily be modified for the log dumps....

You need the ODBC drivers from the Linux side to access the SQL Server. Not sure since I haen't done this, but it should work if the DB2 Federated links...

sp_who2 from a query window will get this as well (and it's quicker).

You ought to be able to use Access as well to link tables from the MSDE. I know I've done this with SQL Server databases and it should be the...

Great tip. I didn't know this, but it could be a great help in any custom procedures that you need to pass a parameter in on.

You can backup to a remote drive using a UNC path, like backup database to disk = '\\webserver\share\folder\file.bak', however the backup procedure isnt' very tolerant of delays.

Instead I'd write the...

It's hard to make a good recommendation from a very limited description. If these are small dbs, I'm not sure the recovery time and all app availability matters. If we're...

Not seen things like this specficially, but the Siebel app we used to run on v7 had performance issues. Strange things between the app and db servers, never really tied...

Has it ever worked? I suspect your installation has issues. If you can, I rerun the setup. Be sure you backup your databses, script logins, etc. first.

Have you checked the proxy account checkbox for security in SQL Server Agent properties? I believe if you haven't done this, only sysadmins can run xp_cmdshell successfully.

Also, run the queries in Query Anayzer with the execution plan (CTRL-K) set. This can help pinpoint how the query is running and any hot spots.

Brian Kelley has a...