SQL Server Magazine

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2006 Innovators Top of the Class Adapt these creative ideas to make your own job easier or let these stories trigger you to come up with innovations: self-service development testing, comprehensive server monitoring, automated medical coding, and more.		• Subscribe • Renew • Master CD • Change Mailing Address • Customer Service • Back Issues • Article Reprints • Group Discounts
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Automate Your Security Audits

Start with this stored procedure for tracking 15 commonly monitored checkpoints--and build on it by adding your own checks.
By Dan Sawyer 

Auxiliary Table-of-Numbers Tricks

Learn coding techniques to create a virtual auxiliary table of integers that you can use in T-SQL queries.
By Itzik Ben-Gan 

Coordinating a DTS-to-SSIS Migration

Intimidated by the prospect of migrating from DTS to SSIS? Now that SQL Server 2005 is more than a year old, the process is fairly well documented. But here's how to accomplish a truly effective migration
By Erik Veerman 

Just a Sequel Edition?

Does it seem like Microsoft keeps releasing the same SQL Server editions with different names? SQL Server 2005 Compact Edition is similar to its predecessors, but the new name isn't the only change in this latest release.
By Michael Otey 

Single-Table Joins in Query Plans

In SQL Server 2005, a single-table query can show as a join operation in a query plan, even when no JOIN operator is specified. Learn more about how the optimizer treats such queries, by using either a nonclustered index or multiple indexes on a table.
By Kalen Delaney 

Master Data Management

By using the Master Data Management approach to integrate data into a single, trusted source, you'll be able to capitalize on missed business opportunities.
By Michelle A. Poolet 

New Products

Check out new and improved SQL Server-related products.
By Blake Eno 

SQL Server Log Files

SQL Server logs can make troubleshooting problems simpler—if you know where to look. Here are 5 SQL Server 2005 log files that might come in handy.
By Michael Otey 

Lockdown.sql

Security guru Chip Andrews was frustrated by the need to repeatedly button up SQL Server 2000 security holes. To ensure a fast, effective way to reduce security risks, he created Lockdown.sql, a simple T-SQL script that no DBA should be without.
By Kevin Kline 

Editing T-SQL: The Road to Perfection

Can a third-party T-SQL editor match the performance of SQL Server's native tools? That's what our reviewer set out to discover.
By Mike Campbell 

SQL Server Pros Keep On Innovating

The winners of this year's SQL Server Magazine Innovators contest epitomize ingenuity, developing fresh solutions to business problems ranging from change management to scheduling overtime.
By Dawn Cyr  , et al.

Industry Briefings

Our editors share insights from their conversations with DataDirect, CA, and Symantec.
By Editors 

PTO for the Rest of Us

Welcome to our new performance-tuning column, your essential source of foundational, need-to-know information to keep you up to speed.
By Brian Moran