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[Focus]

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Bring Cube Data into Focus
Reporting Services gives you an inexpensive way to deliver Analysis Services data to business users. Here’s how you can provide greater flexibility in your reports so users can easily change the ways they view BI data.
 — Craig Utley

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[Features]

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VARBINARY(MAX) Tames the BLOB
Use the new VARBINARY(MAX) data type with T-SQL or ADO.NET 2.0 to easily import BLOB data into and retrieve it from a SQL Server 2005 database.
 — Michael Otey


Win the Lottery on Your Way to Analysis Services 2005 Mastery
Here's how to build a lottery prediction Analysis Services project and become disgustingly wealthy. In the process, you'll get a powerful BI education.
 — Rodney Landrum

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[Editorial]

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Making Sense of the Editions
SQL Server 2005 clearly delineates the features of the different editions. Customers need to choose wisely for their needs.
 — Michael Otey

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[Reader to Reader]

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Easily Identify the Most Accessed Tables in Your Database
By combining the schema views of sys.tables and sys.dm_db_index_usage_stats in SQL Server 2005, you can find out which tables users access the most.
 — Readers

Pull Out Text from HTML Code
The ScrapeText function accepts an HTML string as input and returns a plain text string by simply skipping over any text contained within the tags < and > tags.
 — Bill McEvoy

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[Inside SQL Server]

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Jumbo Columns
SQL Server lets you store large amounts of data by using LOB columns or by using the MAX specifier to define a variable-length column.
 — Kalen Delaney

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[Solutions by Design]

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Data-Modeling Contention
Naming conventions, regulatory compliance, primary keys are some of the topics in this month's Solutions by Design column. Read about these data modeling concepts and join the discussions at SQL Server Magazine's Database Design forum.
 — Michelle A. Poolet

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[T-SQL Black Belt]

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Matching Current and Preceding Rows
Explore cursor and set-based solutions to this classic T-SQL programming problem and pick up some query optimizer tips along the way.
 — Itzik Ben-Gan

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[New Products]

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New Products, September 2006
Check out new and improved SQL Server–related products.
 — Blake Eno

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[SELECT TOP(X)]

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SQL Server Migration Assistant
Converting Oracle databases to SQL Server has always been a manual process fraught with pitfalls—but not anymore, thanks to SQL Server Migration Assistant. Here are four features of this tool that will pave the way to a successful conversion.
 — Michael Otey

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[Ask Microsoft]

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Accessing Web Services in SQL Server 2005
Microsoft’s Patrick Conlan explains a design philosophy in SQL Server 2005.
 — Microsoft's SQL Server Development Team

The Disappearance of SQL Server Express
Microsoft’s Richard Waymire helps a reader locate an instance of SQL Server 2005 Express.
 — Microsoft's SQL Server Development Team

Transferring SQL Server Registration Information Between Machines
Microsoft’s Richard Waymire gives a method for moving server registration information between client machines.
 — Microsoft's SQL Server Development Team

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[Vendor Briefs]

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Vendor Briefs, September 2006
Our editors share insights from their conversations with ProClarity, Red Gate Software, Panorama Software, and Guardium.
 — Editors

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[Review]

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MiraLink 400
Check out the MiraLink 400, a remote data-mirroring appliance that looks like a SCSI drive to the server.
 — John Green

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[Buyer's Guide]

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Network Attached Storage
Is a NAS device the answer to your SQL Server storage needs? We help you decide.
 — David Chernicoff