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[Focus]

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9 Steps to an Automated Trace
SQL Server Profiler traces can give you great information to help you improve performance, but you probably don't have the time to run them often enough. The answer? Automate your traces with SQL Server jobs!
 — Steven Berringer

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[Features]

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Embedded Scripting in Stored Procedures
If you need to import data from a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet or .csv file into SQL Server, you might be frustrated because T-SQL doesn’t support the ability to access external objects--or does it? Learn how to work around this common problem.
 — William Barton


Preventing SQL Injection Attack
You can best protect your data from SQL injection attacks if you first understand how they work. Learn to create your own SQL injection attack--then use your knowledge to set up effective data-protection layers.
 — William Sheldon


Pushing the Parameters
SQL Server 2000 Reporting Services lets you use parameters and expressions minimal programming to customize reports and give users the functionality they need.
 — Rodney Landrum

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[SQL Server Savvy]

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Fighting OS-Level Fragmentation
Fragmentation exists at both the SQL Server level and the file level within the OS. Here's how and when OS-level defragmentation can speed up your SQL Server.
 — Brian Moran


Page Life Expectancy a Reliable Indicator of SQL Server Memory Pressure
Have you ever checked out the page life expectancy counter in Performance Monitor's Buffer Manager object?
 — Brian Moran


Sending Query Analyzer Results to Excel
Here's how to copy a query's results column headings and values from Query Analyzer to Microsoft Excel.
 — Brian Moran


Store Integers as Decimal Data Type
Learn how to store integers that have 20 digits, or more, as numeric values.
 — Brian Moran

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[Editorial]

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Is VB Dead?
The biggest base of Microsoft developers isn't made up of Web developers; it consists of the 8 million Visual Basic (VB) 6.0 developers who haven't migrated to Visual Studio .NET in the numbers Microsoft hoped for.
 — Michael Otey

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[Inside SQL Server]

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Anatomy of a Performance Solution
Follow the solution to a real-world SQL Server performance problem from identification through investigation to a happy conclusion.
 — Kalen Delaney

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[Solutions by Design]

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Modernizing Memberships
Managing a nonprofit organization's rapidly changing membership database was a challenge for one DBA. Learn how she simplified her job by aligning her database design with members' real needs.
 — Michelle A. Poolet

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[T-SQL Black Belt]

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Back Doors with a View
Itzik Ben-Gan concludes his series on T-SQL back doors by looking at hidden ways to work with views.
 — Itzik Ben-Gan

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[New Products]

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New Products, August 2004
Check out the latest SQL Server-related new and improved products.
 — Dawn Cyr

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[SELECT TOP(X)]

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Bulk-Insert Options for ADO.NET
Looking for a fast way to bulk insert data to SQL Server from ADO.NET applications? Here are four high-performance methods you can use.
 — Michael Otey

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[Ask Microsoft]

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Analyzing Object I/O Utilization
Your best best for gathering I/O information for analysis is to create a SQL Server Profiler trace.
 — Microsoft's SQL Server Development Team


Finding Login Counts and Creation Dates
Several example queries against syslogins and sysusers can give you the login and user information you need.
 — Microsoft's SQL Server Development Team


Specifying Appended Backups
By default, the restore process uses the first file in the backup set. If you want appended backups, you must explicitly specify them, as this example shows.
 — Microsoft's SQL Server Development Team