Move Your Master
How often do you move your master database? Hopefully never, but this article looks at an easy technique should you need to perform this trick.
Worst Practice - Not Having An Archive Plan For Each Table
We're curious to see what our readers have to say about this one! How many of us have tables accruing data that won't be used and/or isn't of any value? At what point do we get rid of it to free up resources?
Streamlining the Database Server Recovery Process
Are you tired of manually restoring each database on a new server when the original server has a melt down? Does the manual process seem slow, and prone to keystoke and mouse click errors? Would you like to have those restore scripts automatically built, so you only have to fire them off? Well this article will show you one possible method for speeding up and reducing errors will trying to perform a restore of all databases on a server.
Why Secure the Database?
You're behind a firewall, you have passwords. Why spend any great amount of time on extra database security? Steve thinks there are a few reasons why in this article.
SQL Server Notification Services Documentation
Microsoft has released the "Books Online" equivalent for Notification Services. Browse through and take a look to see if this service is useful to you.
Loading a Series of Flat Files
Andy Jones recently faced a requirement to load several flat files on a nightly basis. In this article, Andy Jones shows you how he accomplished this and shows plenty of code!
SQL Server Product Support Life Cycle
Microsoft has formally clarified the support life cycles for it's products. See where your products fall in and be sure to plan for upgrades.
Hidden Connections
Ever have strange DTS errors after moving a package? You changed all the connection strings, but still get connection errors. Steve Jones did and tracked down one potential culprit.
Alternatives to SQL Backups
All of do us regular backups. Ok, all of us SHOULD do regular backups. In this article Andy comments on why having a backup plan isn't enough and why you should look at some other options for when you need to fix data errors. This really speaks to the goal of minimizing down time using low tech, readily available solutions. If you're not interested yet, we'll add this - one of the alternatives he suggests is Microsoft Access!
Manage Multiple SQL Server Installations and Databases with OSQL
This article explains how to use a simple batch file and script file to manage multiple databases on multiple servers.
Blogs
Shifting Mindsets: Why FinOps is Essential for Cloud Efficiency
By HeyMo0sh
As a DevOps practitioner, I’ve always focused on performance, scalability, and automation. But as...
March 2026 SQL Server Security Updates
By Brian Kelley
On Patch Tuesday, in addition to OS and Office security patches, Microsoft also released...
How Fabric Mirroring Transformed with SQL Server 2025
When mirroring was first released for Azure SQL Database, it used Change Data Capture...
Forums
XACT_ABORT being set to ON by web services
We have two "identical" instances of an ASP.NET web service (or so I have...
OPENQUERY Flexibility
Comments posted to this topic are about the item OPENQUERY Flexibility
A Full Shutdown
Comments posted to this topic are about the item A Full Shutdown
Question of the Day
OPENQUERY Flexibility
Which of these are valid OPENQUERY() uses?
See possible answers