I don't know if there's a best way. Bob has one way here: http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/calendar/145206/

Some people  create a dimension table, and use an int as a PK...

Views aren't run. views are essentially a query definition that a user can use in place of a table and the optimizer will then run the query as though it...

All OSes (Win/Linux/Unix/OSX) are impacted.

That's interesting. Hadn't seen it, but I see the same thing. I'm guessing this is a basic default, but since guest is not enabled by default, it shouldn't be an...

Many of us get lazy with SET options, relying on defaults or assumptions.

There's a reason why SSMS shows these when they script objects. We want to be sure...

Closing. If the OP wants to start a new one, please give more details.

The VSS technology pauses the db so that a consistent, PIT copy can be made. This should give you useable files, though it is possible a restore will have inflight...

I saw that. A very unexpected consequence, and certainly a reason why we need better data understanding and controls.

I would say those items are often out of my control. I don't worry about the network with regards to my commitment for uptime or issues with maintenance. Same for...

Core licenses license that instance for unlimited users. You're licensing by hardware, and you need a license for each core in the host machine. Not each one SQL uses, but...

Disasters come in many flavors. I could
- lose a network connection
- have the instance software get corrupt or fail on a patch (db fine)
-  lose storage...

Getting started with the default trace: http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/SQL+Server+2005/64547/

I don't see any events in there that would track jobs.

The log will be fine. It goes by it's own stamps (LSN), so transactions will be in order. What might be weird is that times you track from getdate() or...