DBA from Crisis to Confidence
Every DBA needs to know how to do their work under pressure, while facing crisis after crisis. Our most important contribution is to keep the database running. It's an on-call function; you never know what might happen
Using the SQL Server Surface Area Configuration
So, you’ve just installed SQL Server 2005 but don’t know how to configure it. This video will instruct you how to use the SQL Server 2005 Surface Area Configuration tool to turn on SQL Server features like CLR integration and how to enable ports. Free registration required.
Alternative to the Microsoft MMC Console
Are you frustrated by the limitations of the MMC console when managing dozens or hundreds or servers? The way Enterprise Manager is fitted into the framework can be a problem for DBAs with lots of servers. Jereme Guenther brings us a technique for his own console that solves some of the limitations of MMC.
Free SQL Prompt 2.0 valuable, but flawed; V3.0 being built from scratch
Many of you were thrilled to see intellisense available for SQL Server editors, but there has been a bit of confusion about this product. An open letter from the CEO of Red-Gate Software clears things up.
Building the MSDN Aggregation System
After agreeing on our design goals we began looking for technologies to support them. It turned out that SQL Server™ Service Broker offered the asynchronous messaging support we needed and, since the message-queuing infrastructure is tightly integrated with the SQL Server database engine, our existing database backup, administration, and failover procedures could cover our messaging solution as well.
A Fix() Function in T-SQL
SQL Server provides a decent ROUND function to help you cut off numbers after the proper number of decimal points. But what if you don't know how many decimals the number will have? Author Rob Farley brings us a UDF he built to do just this.
SQL Server 2005 Integration Services - Security - Part 28
Part 28 of SQL Server 2005 Integration Services series covers the remaining security features intended to protect the confidentiality and integrity of your packages
Get RAAS WorkFlow Manager For Free
For a limited time Highwire Development is offering free site licenses for their RAAS Workflow Manager. This product can help you control your change processes and manage the workflow involved in deploying new scripts.
What is XML?
The use of XML is growing all the time and if you listen to the media, XML is a technology you cannot do without. New author Stephen Hirsch brings us a look at XML from more of a skeptic's point of view.
NET Application Architecture: the Data Access Layer
An in-depth, fully explained case study on how to design and create a data access layer for your .NET applications.
Blogs
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But as I've matured over the years, I came to realize that I needed...
Presenting Twice in May 2026
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I will be presenting my latest session, Documenting Your Work for Worry-Free Vacations, in-person...
Finding the Next Sequence Value: #SQLNewBlogger
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I saw a question asking about the next sequence value and decided to try...
Forums
DB Design Methods
I've read a few posts regarding what we use to design DB models and...
Auto Update Statistics not triggering on filtered indexes
I've got a table with 186,703,969 rows, about 300GB of data. There are several...
What is the difference between SQL Server and SQL Database?
I created a SQL Database in Azure Portal but I've just noticed it also...
Question of the Day
An Unusual Identity
What values are returned when I run this code?
CREATE TABLE dbo.IdentityTest2
(
id NUMERIC(10,0) IDENTITY(10,10) PRIMARY KEY,
somevalue VARCHAR(20)
)
GO
INSERT dbo.IdentityTest2
(
somevalue
)
VALUES
( 'Steve')
, ('Bill')
GO
SELECT top 10
id
FROM dbo.IdentityTest2 See possible answers