Editorials

The Unbearable State of Numbness with SQL Server

Watch the Latest Weekly SQL Server Show
SelectViews, our weekly program, features information, tips and tricks about using and supporting SQL Server. We also launched the beta of the "Segment Selector" this week, allowing you to jump around the show and pick the segments most interesting to you (or re-watch other segments a second time). Check out the show, here. It’s open access to all visitors to the site.

Featured Article(s)
Tips for using SQL Server 2005 Transactional Replication (Part 3)
Here are some helpful tips to performance tune and optimize SQL Server 2005 Transactional Replication.

Pulling Information From Non-Relational Sources…
…is possible. In fact, pulling together sections of a worksheet, CSV reports and other more non-traditional data sources just got a whole lot easier. In SSIS, you can now use DataDefractor – a tool that let’s you automated the combination of information from these types of sources that used to be very difficult to include. Need to extract only a portion of the data? No problem. Take a look at DataDefractor here, and get your free trial copy to see exactly how you can put it to use.

Final Call/Notice: Fantasy Football!!!
Want to play on the SSWUG.ORG fantasy football league? It’s free for all full members and, as a registered guest, you can also send in a note to be included if there are extra slots to fill-out teams. So, if you’re interested, please send me a note – YOU MUST INCLUDE the following information please:

– Your registered SSWUG email address (do NOT send your password)
– Your SSWUG ID (upper left corner of the site when you’re logged in – it’s a numeric value)
– Your Membership level (next to your ID, upper left corner of the site – Basic or Elite)
– Whether you participated in last year’s leagues

If you do not include this information, you will not be included in the Leagues.

This is a NO-CHARGE offering from the site – we cover the costs of the premium league with Yahoo, which includes their real-time stat-tracker, other tools and premium content, etc.

Don’t delay, I’ll be setting up the league very, very soon (I’m actually a bit behind in getting this going, so need your information right away).

Email me your information here.

Notifying Your Users and Keeping them Informed
On Friday’s show, I’ll be talking more about how to keep users from becoming numb to the constant barrage of messages – security, data protection, don’t click on unknown links, don’t copy information onto local devices, backup your stuff… there are a lot of things that amount to a constant drum beating for our users.

My question is, how do you present this information, work with your user base and make sure they get the message, while at the same time not taking them to the point where they no longer hear your requests? After a while, we all ignore the wailing sound of the car alarm. Are your users the same way on the constant talk and information about security, backups, recovery and the like?

Potentially worse yet, are YOU?

How do you work with your users? How do you keep them informed, but interested? If you have tips, things that work for you, ideas, or even things you *don’t* like, drop me a note, let me know – I’d be very interested to hear more about your experiences.

Featured White Paper(s)
Business Objects and Microsoft Interoperability
This document discusses how customers using Microsoft and Business Objects technologies can maximize the interoperability fro… (read more)

10 Steps to a Successful Modernization Project, Legacy Database or Application Upgrade
The goal of a modernization project is to transform aging applications to more-modern architectures while preserving the busi… (read more)

Common Table Expressions
Common Table Expressions(CTEs) are new to SQL Server 2005. CTEs are defined in the ANSI SQL-99 standard. We need to begin lea… (read more)

HBD BW!