SQL Server Articles

SQL Server 6.5 can use two different methods to update records, depending on the circumstances. They include: Direct Update Deferred Update Each method affects performance in a different way, as we shall see in this article.A Direct Update includes three different methods of modification: In-place update On-page delete/insert Full delete/insert Think of these above three [...]

This website offers hundreds of different ways to tune SQL Server for optimum performance. But as you read over the many tips, you might be asking yourself, which tips offer the most performance gains for the effort expended. As you can imagine, it is not always easy to know which tips might help boost your [...]

Having had the honor of working for quite a few companies that did not have the resources to buy any of the nice SQL Server toys that exist out there, or were willing to put an email  client on the servers, I have found myself spending a good deal of time each morning checking the [...]

Recently, I was asked to help someone clean up their database after they had double loaded an import file. The problem they were having in identifying and deleting the duplicate information was the fact that a timestamp is applied to each row of data as it is inserted into the table. While the rest of [...]

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This article uses the table we created in Part 1, called CUBE. Data is usually normalized into columns. For example, suppose we have a table of appointments. The table consists of 2 columns, DATE and APPOINTMENT. A common request is to display the data in a monthly calendar format. That is “pivot” the columns into [...]

In this article, I want to tell you about the undocumented system tables shipped with SQL Server 2000. These tables are used by some system stored procedures and most are stored in the master database (only the sysfiles1, sysproperties and sysfulltextnotify system tables are stored in each database). syscursorcolumnsContains the list of the a cursor’s [...]

A useful device in Ethernet networking is the cross-over cable. There are circumstances where it is necessary to network two computers together and nothing else. Examples include test environments and clustered systems. In such cases, it is desired to avoid the need for a dedicated network switch. On Ethernet and Fast Ethernet networks, this is [...]

Read the SQL-Server-Performance.Com Book Review Robin Dewson is the author of the Wrox Press book, Beginning SQL Server 2000 Programming, and the co-writer of several other SQL Server-related books, including Professional Access 2000 Programming, Professional SQL Server Development with Access 2000, Professional SQL Server DTS, and Professional SQL Server 2000 Programming. He is a SQL [...]