Automatically Gathering Server Information Part 1

The first part of Steve Jones's series on having SQL Server automatically report information to a DBA.

Using WMI

Get started with using WMI (Windows Mgmt Instrumentation) by seeing two good scripts to start with, one to reboot the server, another to list all the services.

Date Time Values and Time Zones

Dinesh looks at the date functions, how to work with time zones (or not), and does a brief comparison to see how you do similar tasks in Oracle.

Dealing With Changing Data

As Chris points out, in most applications these days you end up having to go with optimistic locking, which presents a few challenges. Chris works through the list of options. If you're building web/disconnected apps and need anything besides last update wins, this one is for you.

Finding Real Dependencies

Sysdepends is a neat idea, but in practice it's not always accurate. This article talks about why it's not always reliable and presents some code (recursive even!) that will let you find all the dependencies by querying the system tables.

Two Best Practices!

This article presents two best practices. One is about how to construct good table aliases, the other is about using ANSI join syntax. Good stuff!

Best Practices in an Adhoc Environment

This short article looks at some mistakes developers should avoid when they also have the task of designing the database, database objects, or TSQL used to access it.

Duplicate Indexing Woes

Why would you ever create duplicate indexes? Does that even make sense? Steve Jones isn't sure, and that's for another day, but it sure caused him some problems. Follow along and find a solution for tracking these down.

Full Text Indexing - Text Parsing Routine

Full text indexing is interesting, but not always easy for the user to apply well. Chris has some ideas about to make that

Superior SQL Builder v1.3 released

Red Earth Technologies announces the release of version 1.3 of Superior SQL Builder, its SQL tool that allows users to visually build complete SQL scripts without typing any code.

Superior SQL Builder introduces new SQL scripting technology, allowing users to quickly and easily transform their database data. In version 1.3 this scripting technology has been extended and enhanced so that complex SQL scripts can be built in less time and with greater ease.