SQL This!

Often when a database needs to be renamed a common tool that I've used in the past was always to use the sp_renamedb procedure. And that's one of the reasons I love the internet, there is always a better way to do something. Take the tips on how to rename your database without the use of this procedure. What is neat about the following article is that it also changes the logical and physical names of the database. see more at this link... http://www.mssqltips.com/tip.asp?tip=1891

F ixing smallish databases which are less than 1-2 gb may be just annoying when you are dealing with multiple indexes, but try managing some of those larger ERP databases with literally thousands of tables! Talk about a database from hell, having to sift through 10 of thousands of indexes can be a real chore if you're searching for performance bottle necks. There are some great solutions out there that all cost money per instance or per site license and can get quite pricey. But just about all of those products are charging you for something you can do on your own. T he article below is an extension of my previous blog on maintaining those indexes It's the script that has evolved from some very basic loops and DMV ( dm_db_index_physical_stats ). In my script (follow the link below) You'll find that I chose to stick to a SAMPLED stats, which essentially looks at the number of compressed pages. If you're talking millions of row of data and a very short maintenance w...

It's been a while since I've updated the blog, but I Did want to mention that I am working on a neat article, which focuses on my passion for performance. Stay tuned for the latest details... in the mean time, have you ever been stuck with someone else's database? Or how'bout a vendor database where someone needs you to extend a task. Well finding the stored procedures is relatively simple. Remember just go through profiler, run the process and you can monitor which stored procedures are called sometimes this also provides you some feedback on which tables are being accessed. Other times you may need to report on some of this information, so you may need to search the database on where they decided to store such information. I extended my own version of Narayana's searchalltables procedure, in this new version you'll notice that you get to also search text (and ntext) fields along with only a single while loop. Check out the latest script and article here...

E mail, You use it, your colleges use it, even your systems use it. It's a part of everyday business. If you are a Sql Developer you have probably figured out how to implement email already, Often times I've seen many DBA's and Developers implement it from outside of SQL Server in rather ingenious ways... This article outlines how to setup Sql Server Mail in Sql Server 2000 and 2005 (2008 is the same as Sql Server 2005). By bringing mail inside of your server you can now send reports, alerts and other needed information based on the triggers and alerts that matter to you most. Making execution calls to xp_cmdshell to an opensource program (Blat) and sp_send_dbmail calls for Sql Server 2005 help leverage reporting from Sql Server. Sending E-mail from SQL Server 200X

When you are faced with request from users who will ask things like... i want to know the top 2 machines of every model type that have active leads, you may find yourself baffled and stunned to find that the Select TOP n does very little to help you out. The following article address the issue completely whether you're a sql developer or NOT. For myself it was a new look at existing solutions that we had employed all which were cumbersome and tedious to maintain, the solutions in the article describe the best approach which is easily extensible and flexible. Limit Groups by Number Using Transact-SQL or MS Access

When you inherit a new server sometimes you find that you can't connect to the server, to fix that you may need to simply enable the protocol via Sql Server Network Utility (svrnetcn) that is listening For MSDE. In Windows, click Start and Run . Enter svrnetcn and click OK . Under the General tab , verify that the correct instance for the server is displayed in the Instance(s) on this server box. Highlight your desired protocol and click Enable (double clicking the name also moves the protocol to the enabled protocols box). Click OK . Restart the Sql Server Instance In Windows, click Start and Run . enter services.msc Locate the MSSQLSERVER instance you modified in the Sql Server Network Utility and Restart the service. You may wish to ensure that your users are not logged on or at least notified of this change as it will kick them out of the application

If you have been regretting making the move from Sql Server 2000 to Sql Server 2005, you will be in complete shock and awe when you find that you no longer have DTS to move your data around. The good news is that in Sql Server 2005 you get Sql Server Integration Services (SSIS) a full feature ETL product for Sql Server 2005. If you want to move things moving quickly take a look at the Sql Server 2005 Import / Export Wizard short article which outlines just how easy shuffling your data around can really be.

Take the post about finding columns and incorporate it with this post from a college of mine. http://www.artfulsoftware.com/infotree/tip.php?id=753 Now you're off and running turning lists to comma lists, in corporate that with the list table function I posted sometime back, and you can go backwards and forwards!

Forgive the fact that the following SQL is not formatted , but this topic came up today on a list that I frequent, which was how to get all the fieldnames of a view (or table etc). this dandy little select statement will gather just that and all you need to really parse it for is your table name or column name... maybe you want to know how many times you named something "EntryTime" this is an easy way to find all that information at a glance. This is a Sql Server 2005 version (If you need it I can post a Sql Server 2000 version as well.) SELECT t.name AS TableName, sc.name AS SchemaName, c.name AS ColumnName, c.column_id AS ColumnID, c.precision AS [Precision], types.name AS TypeName, basetypes.name AS BaseTypeName, st.name AS TypeSchemaName, CASE WHEN c.max_length>=0 AND basetypes.name IN (N'nchar', N'nvarchar') THEN c.max_length/2 ELSE c.max_length END AS Length, c.scale AS Scale, CONVERT(bit, c.is_identity) AS [Identity], CONVERT(bit, c.is_computed) AS...

The other day a co-worker mentioned one of his biggest pet peeves about Sql's new IDE. Of course he likes the old IDE, but what he detested the most was the slow bloat time it took to get his SSMS loaded on the screen. When we timed the boot time for his Enterprise Manager to load it took nearly 7 seconds. Not bad, but then proceeded to tell me how much longer SSMS (Sql Server Management Studio) took to load. I guessed that it could possibly be about 10 seconds (only 3 more seconds) but I was shocked to see it load in nearly 25 seconds. it was nearly 3x less productive just loading the thing before you could connect to do anything. I couldn't believe that it was nearly that slow on his computer, I had never timed it on my pc. So when I returned I had to try it. Again the load time was nearly 20 seconds on my machine (about 18 seconds to be exact). I was not entirely pleased with my results but thankfully Google provided the answer, one quick search for "Turbo char...