You're reviewing your SQL Server error logs and a series of words catch your eye...STOLEN, DIRTY, KEPT, WAITING. And those words are surrounded by a bunch of numbers. The sight is more than a little ominous, particularly if you've never seen it before. So
Have you heard of the SQL Server 2005 Express edition, but not sure where it fits into your overall architecture? Are you concerned it is too constraining and will not meet your business needs? Are you looking for ways to continue to use SQL Server in n
My SQL Server 2005 error log is getting very large due to auditing login activity and freezes Management Studio when it loads. On another SQL Server I have lost much of the historical error log data from SQL Server service restarts and Windows reboots.
In earlier tips from the sa series we outlined 'When not to use the sa password' and 'When was the last time the sa password changed?'. In this installment of the sa series we will be outlining options for password management. In a nutshell, depending o
Where can I find the SQL Server 2005 installation log files to ensure no sensitive data, specifically clear text passwords, are stored in these files? I can remember from earlier versions of SQL Server that sensitive data, specifically clear text passwor
Error handling was not always used in SQL Server 2000 because the techniques were cumbersome. With SQL Server 2005 the TRY and CATCH syntax is available which simplifies the error handling process in all T-SQL code. To take the error handling to the next
SQL Server Enterprise Manager and Management Studio are pretty good tools for giving you information about a particular object, but when you want to get information across your entire database or server this becomes a bit of a challenge. There are severa
Sometimes you come across SQL Server backup files stored on your file system and it is hard to determine what is in the file. From the filename you may be able to decipher that it is a full backup, differential backup or transaction log backup, but how do
Learn SQL date format options with the SQL CONVERT function when working with date data types in SQL Server.
To bring some comic relief to MSSQLTips.com at the end of the year, check out today's newsletter. It is in the spirit of Jeff Foxworthy. So here you go, you might be a DBA, if...
Performing database maintenance on a 24X7 SQL Server is a unique problem in and of itself. The issues are numerous. First is the realization that database maintenance is important, but not important enough to jeopardize losing data or stopping business
With the rights that the sa login has by default in SQL Server, it is imperative to change this password on a regular basis whether it is monthly, quarterly or semi-annually. In addition, as DBAs move on to other opportunities, it is wise to change the s
Creation and maintenance of full-text catalogs and indexes in SQL Server 2000 can be taxing on both the server and the administrator, as well as take a lot of time to populate. This can result in increased deployment times and potentially inaccurate sear
Learn how to automatically delete SQL Server Agent jobs after execution depending on whether the job succeeds, fails or completes.
Often times when auditing SQL Servers I notice that most environments use the default database roles to grant access to users. These default roles such as db_owner, db_datareader and db_datawriter are great, but often times they give the users a lot more
As you have probably found out there are a lot of things that have changed with SQL Server 2005 and quite a few things that have remained the same. One of the changes that has occurred is how to setup maintenance plans in SQL Server 2000 vs. SQL Server 2
Since SQL Server uses the sa SQL Server standard login when mixed mode authentication is selected during the installation process. Since it is a known and common entity, this login is a natural target to try to penetrate SQL Server. With many of the SQL
Do you feel like all of your projects are going in circles with little progress being made on a weekly basis? Do these projects prevent you from working on the latest and greatest technologies? If so, consider taking the first step in trying to move for
When I have performed database maintenance in the past the transaction log backups were huge and I was unable to restore the transaction logs. This caused more problems for me so I have stopped performing SQL Server maintenance. My SQL Server performanc
With SQL Server 2000 it was difficult to capture real time statistics on many of the core database engine features without issuing DBCC commands, running Profiler or scheduling the execution of custom scripts. With add-on features such as Full Text Searc
With SQL Server 2000 you had the ability to rebuild indexes using maintenance plans. This was great if you wanted or needed to rebuild every index in your database, but for very large databases or tables that were not changed that often you were forced t
Sometimes there is a need to backup or restore your database to another server because of a lack of available disk space on the current server. In this situation you have no other choice but to either remove unneeded files, find additional local storage
With the many needs (SOX, HIPAA, internal, etc.) for auditing sensitive data, what are the options available in the market place to audit SQL Server data and code changes? Do these products automatically collect the data as well as build reports and sele
In this article we look at how to check the current values for an identity column and how to reset the value for the next record.