Detecting and Reporting Errors in Stored Procedures - Part 2: SQL Serv

TRY-CATCH blocks in T-SQL allow error detection and reporting in a construct similar to that used in VB .NET, C#, and C++. The specific focus here is how TRY-CATCH blocks are used in stored procedures and where there might be some surprises.

Exchanging XML with SQL Server 2000 and Reporting Services through the

Venkat Prasad discusses some programming techniques for saving XML data from Microsoft SQL Servers, Web Servers, XML Web Services, and Microsoft SQL Reporting Servers. Topics include a comparison of traditional techniques used for saving XML streams, using ASP/ASPX and COM, with newer ones using .NET Framework Classes—datasets, XMLTextReaders and XMLTextWriters, XSLTransformation, saving data from SQL Reporting Servers, and uploading XML back to SQL Server. (15 printed pages).

Setting up a reboot cycle for Active/Passive Cluster SQL Server

Every organization has a system of weekly reboots or monthly reboots etc., for all their servers. When it comes to clustered servers, the reboot cycle would be little different. Usually the active node in the cluster will always be active, unless there is a failover initiated manually or when there is a hardware failure etc.

In this article, I am going to explain how to reboot cluster nodes.

The Integration of Unstructured Data into a Business Intelligence Syst

This article discusses the challenges of merging unstructured data into BI systems and provides an example of such a merge to solve an organizational problem.

Using the SQLCMD in SQL Server 2005

SQL Server 2005 has changed quite a bit about the way DBAs will work with SQL Server. One of the new tools is the SQLCMD utility that will replace isql and osql as the command line utility. Author Andre Vigneau brings us a first look at this new tool and how you can do a few neat tricks with it.

SQL Server 2005 Part 5 - High Availability and Scalability Enhancement

In this article, we continue our discussion on high availability and scalability enhancements in SQL Server 2005 Beta 2 release. Features such as clustering, database mirroring, online indexing, fast recovery, database snapshots, and snapshot isolation transaction level have already been covered earlier in this series - now we will concentrate on the remaining features, such as a new method of table and index partitioning, backup and restore improvements, and new hardware support options.

The Three Ms of BI: Manage, Monitor and Model

Business intelligence is awash in so many products, buzzwords and technologies that it is often hard to see the forest for the trees. It is at times like this that I put on my industry analyst's cap and muse, "Hmm, what is this: manage, monitor or model?" This tripartite way of looking at the world has served my clients well, and I thought I'd pass it along.

Coupling Outlook to SQL Server

SQL Server has drivers to read almost any data source, but they are not always the easiest to work with. New author Kevin Terry spent quite some time learning how he could pull data from Outlook using DTS and scripting. Most information on the internet requires Exchange to be on the same server as SQL Server to get the data, but this solution works with any configuration, and can pull any information, email address, contact information, etc. from Outlook.

MSSQL Server 2000 Reporting Services: Black Belt Administration: Prepa

General optimization of RS' performance is, beyond argument, one of the more important functions of the Administrator. In evaluating performance from various perspectives at the Administrative level, one readily useful source of information is the data we can obtain from the logs created by the system itself. Reporting Services generates a number of log files to capture information about server operations, status, and so forth. Within this group of logs, which we will explore individually within prospective articles within our series, the Report Server Execution Log is a great place to start in setting up a basic performance and auditing analysis capability.

SQL Server 2005 Part 1 - Security (Authentication)

In this installment of our series covering new and improved functionality of SQL Server 2005 Beta 2, we will focus on the topic of security, which has been becoming increasingly prominent among the issues on every database and system administrator's agenda. A new approach to software development started with the Trustworthy Computing initiative launched in early 2002, necessitated by the growing number of exploits directed at the Microsoft operating system and applications, resulted in a "secure by default" product with highly customizable security features further increasing the degree of protection. We will start with the features related to authentication (the process of identifying logins connecting to the SQL Server and users accessing databases), and continue with authorization (determining the level of permissions granted once the initial connection is established) and encryption in the future articles. In particular, we will cover here, password policy implementation and management as