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Archiving Partitioned Data to the Cloud
This article describes a solution to backup partitioned data to a cloud storage provider for long term retention. It also describes how to partition a table, partial backup concept, and cloud storage software.
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Inside SQL Server 2008: Management Studio improvements
With the launch of SQL Server 2008, Microsoft has succeeded in transforming the SSMS into a much more useful tool set. Mi… (read more)
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SQL Server 2008 – Migrating Workarounds
We’re starting to see some odd trends in talking with people about their SQL Server projects. As systems get migrated from prior releases of SQL Server, we’re finding the need to take a step back and look at how things are implemented, rather than focus on straight migrations. What I mean by this is that in several cases now, previously built workarounds either aren’t needed any more, or straight-up don’t work.
This leads me to a suggestion. If you’re migrating, stop. Look over the jobs you’ve built, look over the manual processes you created to address issues with previous versions of SQL Server. It may very well be that these will "work" in SQL Server 2008, but that you don’t need them.
Worse, they may not work at all. I suspect many of these types of things will be found in the automation you may have built for your systems. Look over jobs, look over SQL agent tasks you’ve set up. Make sure they’re still needed.
While you’re looking things over, you may also see things that are changing, but that’s a different note on a different day. (The most common to consider updating are DBCC commands that handle index fragmentation – there are several commands there that are going away).
Did You Know?
Did you know that Microsoft ships SQL Server with a whole host of templates you can use and re-use for your own TSQL? It’s true – in Management Studio, just select View, Template Explorer. From here, an explorer-type window will open and you can pick and choose from the different categories of templates available. For example, there are several scripts for backup, for table creation and modification and even user management. Just select the script you want, open it and you can make changes to it. You’ll be all set.