Technical Article

Optimizing Your SQL Code with SQL Server 2005

A common complaint of database administrators (DBAs) is that performance bottlenecks are not among those problems that one can fix "by just throwing hardware at it." Thus, database servers must provide tools and techniques to help administrators address this issue. On that aspect, SQL Server 2005 does not disappoint.

Technical Article

Easy Package Configuration

One of the age old problems in DTS is moving packages between your development, test and production environments. Typically a series of manual edits needs to be done to all the packages to make sure that all the connection objects are pointing to the correct physical servers. This is time consuming and gives rise to the possibility of human error, particularly if the solution incorporates many DTS packages. Many companies have provided their own custom solutions for managing this problem but these are still workarounds for a problem that is inherently DTS's.

SQLServerCentral Article

Review - SQLPackager

Deploying a SQL Server database with your software can be tricky. It's easy to forget something that you added to development when trying to script out or detach and copy a database. And there's the whole problem of integrating the installation or upgrade into your main installation routine. New author Mark Vermeulen takes a look at Red Gate's SQLPackager, designed to make the job of deploying a database much easier.

SQLServerCentral Article

Four of a Kind - Backup Software Shootout Part 2

SQL Server has a rock solid backup and restore routine. However, it is not the most efficient way of handling the backups and restores. Neither in terms of time or space required. A number of software vendors have developed their own additions to SQL Server that accelerate or compress the backups (or both). Wesley Brown has taken four of these products into his environment and run some comparisons. Read about large databases in part 2 of this series.

SQLServerCentral Article

Boost Your Performance - Bad Index Detection

SQL Server depends heavily on good indexing to perform well. The optimizer requires relevant and intelligent indexing in order to do its job well. Author Andre Vigneau brings us a script that he uses to detect possible index problems in the database design as well as a number of hints to ensure that your database is performing optimally.

Blogs

The Book of Redgate: Spread across the world

By

This was Redgate in 2010, spread across the globe. First the EU/US Here’s Asia...

Merry Christmas

By

Today is Christmas and while I do not expect anybody to actual be reading...

Self-Hosting a Photo Server the Whole Family Can Use

By

Until recently, my family's 90,000+ photos have been hidden away in the depths of...

Read the latest Blogs

Forums

Happy Holidays, Let's Do Nerdy Stuff

By Grant Fritchey

Comments posted to this topic are about the item Happy Holidays, Let's Do Nerdy...

UNISTR Escape

By Steve Jones - SSC Editor

Comments posted to this topic are about the item UNISTR Escape

Celebrating Tomorrow

By Steve Jones - SSC Editor

Comments posted to this topic are about the item Celebrating Tomorrow

Visit the forum

Question of the Day

UNISTR Escape

In SQL Server 2025, I run this command:

SELECT UNISTR('*3041*308A*304C\3068 and good night', '*') as "A Classic";
What is returned? (assume the database has an appropriate collation) A: B: C:

See possible answers