Testing SQL Server restores
Testing is key to ensuring a process actually works when it comes time to implement, rather than finding out when time may be of the essence. This holds true for testing SQL Server restores as well.
Troubleshooting SQL Server with the Sysperfinfo Table
Joe discusses why he prefers command line tools over GUI, then launches into a how-to about querying sysperfinfo to resolve performance issues. Couple nice sample queries included!
Customer Database Update A Practical Solution
If you deliver applications to a customer, then you have struggled with the challenges of updating schemas as they change. New author Serhiy Snisarenko brings us his comprehensive process and code to make this task easier.
Constructing XML Using FOR XML
A SELECT query returns results as a rowset. You can optionally retrieve formal results of a SQL query as XML by specifying the FOR XML clause in the query.
To Stage Or Not To Stage
The second part of a great data warehousing series from Vincent Rainardi looks at the decision to stage data prior to moving it into the warehouse versus directly loading it. This is a must read for those contemplating a data warehouse.
SQL Server 2005 - SQL Server Integration Services - Package Management
Throughout our series of articles dedicated to SQL Server 2005 Integration Services, we have been working mainly with packages using the Business Intelligence Development Studio interface (although more recently, we also discussed SSIS-related functionality available in SQL Server Management Studio). Even though, as part of our exercises, we have worked with a number of packages, we have not yet explored the various options related to their storage. We will cover them in this article
SQL Server 2005 Logon Triggers
One thing that many people tried to implement in SQL Server 2000 is the auditing of logins. However getting this to work was a complex process. In SQL Server 2005, however, there are a few ways you can handle this and new author Frederik Vandeputte brings us a method using Service Broker for handling this.
SQL Server 2005's EXECUTE AS statement
In SQL Server 2005, you can explicitly or implicitly define the execution context. As we all know, a session starts when a user logs on to SQLServer or a connection to SQLserver is made. All operations in that session use the logon credentials used for connecting to SQL Server. When an EXECUTE AS statement is run, the execution context of the session is switched to the specified login or user name.
SQL Server 2005 Upgrade Advisor
Have you started looking at what issues you might have migrating your existing applications to SQL Server 2005? If not then maybe as a first step, you should consider looking into what the SQL Server 2005 Upgrade Advisor can do for you. This article will discuss what the Upgrade Advisor is and how to use it.
Stored procedure: Determine last database backup
You have many SQL Servers to administer and you just want to know when the last backup was taken for each database on each instance. This stored procedure will help.
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Finding Motivation
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SQL Art, Part 2: New Year Fireworks in SSMS
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Question of the Day
The Last Binary Value of the Year
What does this code return?
SELECT cast(0x2025 AS NVARCHAR(20))Image 1:
Image 2: 
Image 3: 
Image 4: 
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