If you are using SSMS and SQL Server 2005 sp2 You've probably tried out the database reports that are available in the Performance Dashboard, and decided how useful they are, but did you know that you can create your own dashboard reports?… Read more
You are asked for the sa password for a SQL Server in order to perform a software upgrade. You, the DBA, don't know the password and it's not documented. Rodney Landrum provides a way out of this dilemma, demonstrating two techniques for temporarily changing the password, and then returning it to its previous unknown value.… Read more
SQL Server Endpoints are database objects that define the ways and means that SQL Server 2005 communicates on the network. Any DBA working with SQL Server 2005 will soon need to become familiar with them, particularly if using SOAP, Service Broker or Database Mirroring.… Read more
Grant Fritchey provides an eagle-eye view of effective tools, strategies and techniques for SQL Server performance measurement, tuning and testing.… Read more
András's article on Source Control shows a lot of the thinking amongst the developers at Red Gate at that time that eventually crystallized into SQL Source Control. It identified several problems that had to be overcome before the task could be done properly. Andras's suggestions for the use of SQL Compare are now built-in to SQL Source Control, but it remains a fascinating explanation of the complications along the way. … Read more
SQL 2005 wait event statistics are a good step forward, but are only useful for isolated testing, and to get a global impression on how the SQL Server is spending its time. Mario Broodbakker demonstrates why it would be much better if SQL Server collected those statistics per session and per subtask.… Read more
In systems that require, for auditing purposes, advanced logging and reproducibility of reports between runs, a straightforward update, insert, or delete may be counter-productive. In such circumstances, a bitemporal model is necessary. Adam Machanic explains how it works.… Read more
If you would like to learn how to build and customize your very own Windows service to retrieve posts from multiple RSS feeds, and then store those posts in a SQL Server database, let John Papa guide you through his tutorial.… Read more
"I can't help thinking that unless you have a good DBA on a development team and use him or her as a consultant on all database matters, we're all losing out. I end up having work thrown at me that I could teach a trainee to do, which is a waste of my talents, and the development team's database skills might be 'good enough' but could be so much better." Doug Burns assesses the role of the Development DBA and its increasing importance to the success of software projects.… Read more
If you work with SQL Server 2000, then you know how painful it is to triage a server that has "gone astray". Eric Brown thinks that the new Dynamic Management Views in SQL 2005 are a big step forward.… Read more
SQL Server provides several "standard" techniques by which to read and write to files but, just occasionally, they aren't quite up to the task at hand - especially when dealing with large strings or relatively unstructured data. Phil Factor provides some T-SQL stored procedures, based on use of the FileSystem Object (FSO), that may just get you out of a tight corner...… Read more
The most important thing you can do as a database administrator is perform regular database maintenance. This includes regular backups, database integrity checks and optimizations. In Part 1 of a three article series, Allen White shows how to automate the backup of all of your databases, using SQL Server Management Objects (SMO) and either native backup or Red Gate's SQL Backup tool.… Read more
Measuring what is actually happening is always the best course of action when investigating performance issues on databases, rather than relying on cache hit ratios, or best practices, or worst of all, guesswork. This article introduces some techniques that will allow you to pinpoint exactly where the performance issues are in your system, so you'll know exactly where to spend your time (and money) in solving them.
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In part 3 of Dan Sullivan's in-depth exploration of PowerSMO, the versatile command line utility for managing SQL Server databases, he describes how to control the identity that SMO uses to login to SQL Server, how to set up Server activity monitoring, and how to create standalone PowerSMO scripts, suitable for use in a production environment.… Read more
Never a man to walk away from a challenge, Phil Factor set himself the task of automating the production of Word reports from SQL Server, armed only with OLE automation and a couple of stored procedures.… Read more
Robyn Page and Phil Factor present practical T-SQL techniques for controlling access to sensitive information within the database, and preventing malicious SQL injection attacks.… Read more