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[Focus]

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Rock Stars
Throughout the year, SQL Server Magazine keeps you informed about database-related products, tools, and services. In our first annual Editors' Choice Awards, we pick the hits from all the products we've covered in the past year.
 — Editors

The Best of TechEd 2006
In June, SQL Server Magazine and Windows IT Pro conducted the fifth-annual Best of TechEd Awards, honoring standout vendors at Microsoft’s megashow. Here are the Microsoft partners that provide the top SQL Server–related products.
 — Editors

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[Features]

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Solving Merge Replication Performance Problems
Pointing LAN and mobile users to different instances of an application database on different servers helped one organization improve performance for LAN users without major application or database changes.
 — Gary Zaika

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[SQL Server Savvy]

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A Tuning Weapon for Enhancing Database Performance
SQL Server 2005 offers two options that help you optimize database performance: forced parameterization and plan guides. Find out how to use these options.
 — Brian Moran


Changing SQL Query Behavior
Find out how to use SQL Server 2005's forced parameterization and plan guides to change SQL query behavior.
 — Brian Moran


Looking for AdventureWorks?
AdventureWorks sample database used to be included with SQL Server 2000, but now it's a separate download.
 — Brian Moran

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[Editorial]

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Database Design Discipline
Will Visual Studio Team Edition for Database Professional bring the discipline to database development for the SMBs and other organizations running a SQL Server environment?
 — Michael Otey

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[Reader to Reader]

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Stored Procedure Searches for Strings
Here's a stored procedure that searches the syscomments, sysobjects, syscolumns system tables in the local database for any reference to the string you specify.
 — Bill McEvoy

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[Inside SQL Server]

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Stretching the 8K Row Limit
SQL Server 2005 lets you exceed the 8060-byte row limit for data in variable-length columns. Gain insight into how SQL Server stores the overflow data.
 — Kalen Delaney

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[T-SQL Black Belt]

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GROUP BY ALL
This helpful but overlooked T-SQL option lets you include groups that have no members, even when the WHERE clause filters them out.
 — Itzik Ben-Gan

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[SELECT TOP(X)]

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Database Mirroring
Now that Microsoft has added database mirroring to SQL Server 2005 SP1, check out how this important high-availability feature works to automate switching between databases.
 — Michael Otey

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[Ask Microsoft]

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Easy Reading: See Backup Date and Time
Microsoft’s Gert Drapers provides a script that creates backup filenames that display the date and time of the backup, complete with leading zeros for easy reading.
 — Microsoft's SQL Server Development Team

Optimizing Distributed Transactions
Microsoft’s Patrick Conlan gives tips on how to maintain good performance when executing distributed queries between SQL Server instances.
 — Microsoft's SQL Server Development Team

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[From the Casebook of B.I. Powers, Consulting Detective ...]

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The Case of the Wicked Wrist Rapper
Is foul play behind the excessive number of wrist injuries at a local manufacturing company? Can B.I. Powers convince the company's president to use Analysis Services to secure access to data?
 — Brian Larson