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SQL Server Database Index Performance

When it comes to auditing index use in SQL Server databases, I sometimes get overwhelmed. For example, how to do you go about auditing indexes in a database with over 1,500 tables? While auditing a single index is relatively straight-forward, auditing thousands of them in multiple databases is not an easy task. Whether the task is easy or not, it is an important task if you want to optimize the performance of your SQL Server databases.

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The next version of SQL Server named SQL Server 2005 is completely hyped with the integration of CLR into SQL Server. The introduction of CLR into SQL Server allows developers to write stored procedures, triggers, user defined functions, user defined aggregates and user defined types using .NET languages like VB.NET and C#. This introduction has opened up multiple avenues for developers and we need to be careful in maximizing the feature provided.

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Merge Replication - Manual Range Handling

SQL Server 2000 replication is a great feature, but it can cause some headaches at times. Since the use of identities is something many people take advantage of, learning to handle these in a replication scenario is critical. Author Paul Ibison has done extensive work with replication and brings us two techniques to help manage the ranges of values.

Technical Article

SQL Server 2005: Integrating SQL, XML, and XQuery

The evolution of SQL and the XML Query Language (XQuery) continues with the work of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and the InterNational Committee for Information Technology Standards (INCITS). Providers of SQL database management systems have upgraded products such as Microsoft SQL Server to support the storage and retrieval of XML documents. Microsoft has provided stored procedures and Transact-SQL extensions for working with XML. On the horizon are even more changes as Microsoft introduces SQL Server 2005. (MP3 Audio)

Technical Article

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SQLServerCentral Article

Can You Compute?

Transact-SQL in SQL Server 2000 has some interesting features, many of which most DBAs will never use. While many DBAs are famliar with the basic aggregate functions, there are a few that are advanced and not well understood. The ROLLUP and COMPUTE operators are two of these and David Poole takes a look at how these work and a practical application for them.

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Odd Sequences

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Everything is the right question away

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Question of the Day

Odd Sequences

What values are returned from this code?

CREATE SEQUENCE NumericSequence
    AS NUMERIC(5,1)
    START WITH 1.0
    INCREMENT BY 0.1;
GO
SELECT NEXT VALUE FOR NumericSequence
GO
SELECT NEXT VALUE FOR NumericSequence
GO

See possible answers