SQL Server Hardware Performance Checklist

We take a look at each of the major components of a SQL Server's hardware, and examine what can be done to help maximize the performance of your hardware.

SQL Server: Compare Query Results - Part I

In the Database administration world, it is often necessary to run a query on the production box and then run the same query on the QA or UAT box and compare the results. In this article, I would like to introduce a method that takes advantage of an MS-DOS batch file and SQL Server utility, BCP.exe, to compare the query results executed on two different servers.

Getting the Most out of SQL Server 2000's Query Analyzer, Part I

So you open up the tool a hundred times a day. In this article by Brian Kelley, he shows you how to get the most out of some of the known and unknown features.

Clustering for Indexes

There is nothing spectacular about using indexes per say. However, on many occasions I have come across a variety of SQL coders that never consider validating that the index they think they are using is efficient or even being used at all. We can all put indexes on the columns that we think will be required to satisfy individual queries, but how do we know if they will ever be used. You see, if the underlying table data is constructed, contains, or is ordered in a particular way, our indexes may never be used. One of the factors around the use of an index is its clustering factor and this is what this article is about.

Introduction to MSSQL Server 2000 Analysis Services: Performing Increm

This article is a member of the series Introduction to MSSQL Server 2000 Analysis Services. The series is designed to provide hands-on application of the fundamentals of MS SQL Server 2000 Analysis Services, with each installment progressively adding features and techniques designed to meet specific real - world needs.

Evaluating Boolean expressions using T-SQL

Every once in awhile there is a unique T-SQL solution in SQL Server that solves a rare problem. Not many of us have had to deal with boolean evaluation in our jobs, but a few have. Author Eli Leiba has and brings us a new article that shows how to build a procedure that can take a boolean expression and evaluate it to true or false.

Cursors with SQL 2000 Part 2

Cursors with SQL 2000 Part 1

This series of articles will examine the purposes, uses, and optimization of cursors in SQL 2000. SQL languages are designed so groups of records, or sets, can be manipulated easily and quickly. The speed at which groups of data can be altered, updated and deleted, demonstrates why working with sets is the preferred method. However, there are places where cursors are a better choice.

Coding Standards Part 2 - Formatting

The second part of Steve Jones' series on coding standards within SQL Server.

SQL Server 2005 DBCC Command Quick Reference

The next version of SQL Server due in 2005 will bring about many changes in how it works, with .NET, the CLR integration, Integration Services, and much more. Many of us are looking to get a jump on the product and see where these changes might affect our scripts and environments. Jon Reade has started the work in decoding the new DBCC commands, which ones work and which don't. Since there's a limited amount of documentation for the Beta product, read about his detective work and send him off an