http://www.mssqltips.com/ Last five SQL Server tips from MSSQLTips.com en-us Thu, 2 Jul 2009 08:00:00 GMT SQL Server 2008 introduces Filtered Indexes which is an index with a WHERE clause. For example, you have a lot of NULL values in a column and you want to retrieve records with only non-NULL values (in SQL Server 2008, this is called Sparse Column). Or in another scenario you have several categories of data in a particular column, but you often retrieve data only for a particular category value. In this tip, I am going to walk through what a Filtered Index is, how it differs from other indexes, its usage scenario, its benefits and limitations. http://www.mssqltips.com/tip.asp?tip=1785 Thu, 2 Jul 2009 08:00:00 GMT In a previous tip, Retrieve List of Databases and their Properties using PowerShell, you have seen how you can use Windows PowerShell to audit database properties and use Microsoft Excel to generate a report. Part of the daily SQL Server DBA tasks is to check the backups of all the databases in a SQL Server instance. How do we use Windows PowerShell to check for the last backup date of SQL Server databases and to confirm that they still meet our service level agreement? http://www.mssqltips.com/tip.asp?tip=1784 Wed, 1 Jul 2009 08:00:00 GMT The June 2009 tips include the following: Analysis Services, Backup and Recovery, Database Administration, DBA Best Practices, Functions, Performance Tuning, Scripts, Security, Sharepoint, SQL Server 2008, SQL Server Integration Services, T-SQL and User Defined Functions (UDF). http://www.mssqltips.com/tip.asp?tip=1783 Tue, 30 Jun 2009 08:00:00 GMT I have a grasp on ownership chaining, but I'm wondering what cross-database ownership chaining is and how it works? How is the owner determined across databases if ownership is based on database users? http://www.mssqltips.com/tip.asp?tip=1782 Mon, 29 Jun 2009 08:00:00 GMT Just yesterday I had a colleague ask if I could help document all the columns in each table in one of our databases to share with a vendor working on an interface between that system and one the vendor developed for a different aspect of our business. This vendor needed to know the column names, max length, data type and whether a null value was acceptable for each of the columns in the database. He was planning on opening each table individually within Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) and then document each column individually within Microsoft Excel. There had to be a better way. http://www.mssqltips.com/tip.asp?tip=1781 Fri, 26 Jun 2009 08:00:00 GMT