SQL Server Diaries

One of the simplest database backup procedures is to back up the database to disk using a script (or the SQL Server Maintenance Plan GUI). The minimum command necessary to back up a database is: [Read More]

We have been migrating and upgrading SQL Server 2000 databases to SQL Server 2005 for a while and the momentum increased soon after Microsoft stopped Mainstream Support in April 2008 (Microsoft Product Lifecycle). During the course of the upgrades we have occasionally been told that certain VIEWs did not return... [Read More]

Last week we implemented a database for which the developer didn’t have the CREATE TRIGGER scripts.  Unfortunately this is quite a frequent occurance and happens when database code (and objects) are implemented directly into a database and an assumption is made that the code is safely stored in the database/... [Read More]

We recently virtualized a server whose hardware was so dated it would probably have been cheaper to buy a new server than to maintain it. After verifying that it was a good candidate for virtualization, we scheduled a downtime and our virtualization experts converted the physical machine. [Read More]

Linked Servers are easy to set up in all versions of SQL Server.  Using a Linked Server one can connect to databases on the same SQL Server instance, on other instances, other DBMSs such as Oracle, MySQL, Informix and using the appropriae driver (e.g. OLEDB, ODBC, etc.), even Microsoft Access or... [Read More]