How to Make Sure You Have Good Passwords

As Robin points out there is no built in way to make sure users have strong passwords when using SQL authentication. There are a couple changes you can make (with appropriate warnings!) that will allow you to do this. Read on to find out why and how.

Monitoring Failed Job Steps

New Author! We've run a couple articles on similar topics, this one takes a slightly different approach. It's a short article and has two scripts included.

Microsoft Action Pack Subscription

One of the biggest hurdles people new to the IT field face is getting access to all the software they need so they can learn. This new program from Microsoft offers a TON of software for under $400. Caveats apply (don't they always?) but it's worth the 5 minutes to read what it takes.

Review of Lumigent Entegra

We've been trying to catch up on reviews lately, Hai was kind enough to give Entegra a try and report back on it. The basic concept is that it lets you do extensive auditing without having to add triggers. If you're trying to find an auditing solution, this is worth considering.

Regular Expression Library

This isn't a SQL site nor can you easily do regular expressions from SQL. That said, sometimes regular expressions are EXACTLY what you need to solve a problem. The downside? They're tricky! This is a great resource to pass on to your development team.

Typed Data Objects

This is a tool to generate C# code based on a sql script. Source code is also available for download. It's free! One caveat is that the site is in Italian.

Optimizing Your Application - Part 2

This article is for developers (and is in C#), looks at how you can avoid requerying by storing data in a hashtable. Mainly code, but you may get a good idea or two from it.

What is the difference between SET and SELECT?

Both SET and SELECT can be used to assign values to variables. But when to or when not to use SET or SELECT? Or does it matter? This articles shows you how SET and SELECT are different in various scenarios, along with examples. You will also find a test script that you can run, to identify the performance differences between SET and SELECT

SQL Injection - Part 1

Randy says that the biggest reason we have so many injection vulnerabilities is that all the asp books use inline sql for their examples! We STILL encounter developers who don't understand injection. Read and pass on to your dev team.

SQL Server Web Data Administrator

The Web Data Administrator is a utility program implemented in ASP.NET that enables you to easily manage your SQL Server data wherever you are. Using its built-in features, you can do the following from Internet Explorer or your favorite Web browser:

Create and edit databases in Microsoft SQL Server 2000 or Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine (MSDE)
Perform ad-hoc queries against databases and save them to your file system
Export and import database schema and data