SQL Server General DBA

Introduction For the majority of people databases are “just” a place to store and retrieve data from. Many people realize only in cases of hardware failures and/or other unplanned outages, that a software component named “database” exists and that this component prevents the systems from working. Recent evidence of this mindset can be found here [...]

Introduction SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) is a Business Intelligence tool which can be used by database developers or administrators to perform Extract, Transform & Load (ETL) operations. In my previous article entitled Using Data Profiler Task and FTP Task in SQL Server 2008 Integration Services I discussed how to use the Data Profiling Task [...]

SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) is a Business Intelligence tool which can be used by database developers or administrators to perform extract transform & load (ETL) operations. SQL Server Integration Services has come long way since the early days of Data Transformation Services (DTS) which was initially introduced by Microsoft in SQL Server 7.0. Most [...]

One of the most important responsibilities of a SQL Server Database Administrator is to ensure that the managed SQL Servers instances are completely secure. Securing SQL Server is not as simple as ensuring that the unused features of SQL Server are not enabled unless required. The last article titled Surface Area Configuration Using Policy Based [...]

The SQL Server Surface Area Configuration Tool (SQLSAC) was a utility introduced by Microsoft in SQL Server 2005 to help SQL Server Database Administrators or Developers manually turn on features which are off by default in the product. The previous article titled Using the SQL Server 2005 Surface Area Configuration Tool explains how database administrators or [...]

The article titled New Features in SQL Server 2008 Management Studio – Part 1 discussed new features such as Activity Monitor, Intellisense Support and Region Outlining that are available in SQL Server 2008 Management Studio. The second article New Features in SQL Server 2008 Management Studio – Part 2 discussed more new interesting features such as [...]

The previous article titled New Features in SQL Server 2008 Management Studio – Part 1 discussed some of the new features available in SQL Server 2008 Management Studio; namely Activity Monitor, Intellisense Support and Region Outlining. This article continues to explore the new features available within SQL Server 2008 Management Studio (SSMS).  These features can be used by database [...]

SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) is a graphical tool which can be used by Database Developers and Database Administrators to perform development and administrative tasks on SQL Server 2008. SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) tool was first introduced by Microsoft in SQL Server 2005. SSMS is a replacement for Query Analyzer, Analysis Manager & Enterprise [...]

 A trigger is an operation that is executed when some kind of event occurs to the database. It can be a data or object change.  Listed below are the different types of tiggers: Types of Triggers DML(data manipulation language) triggers (SQL Server 2000- 80.0) AFTER triggers (Only Tables) INSTEAD OF triggers (Tables or Views) DDL(data definition language) [...]

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Release to Manufacturing (RTM) was released in the August 2008. There are different versions of SQL Server 2008 available such as Enterprise, Standard, Workgroup, Web, Express, Compact and Developer editions. The trial version of Microsoft SQL Server 2008 can be downloaded from the following link http://www.microsoft.com/sql/2008/prodinfo/download.mspx. This article describes the steps [...]